The Republican federal government of the United States is getting in its last licks in last weeks in office.

VHeadline's Washington DC-based commentarist Chris Herz writes: They've announced the arrest of the governor of Illinois (Chicago) for alleged attempts to auction to the highest bidders the office of retiring (to become President) US senator Barack Obama. Rod Blagonovich was arrested by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at his home in the small hours of the morning.

Let's put all this in context. The last governor of Illinois, George Ryan has also been arrested and convicted of various forms of official corruption. Ryan was a Republican, and Blagonovich is a Democrat.

And of course the Federal regime in Washington, until local noon, 20 January, 2009 is Republican.

The dirty secret is that there is no way to be a successful US politician without being wholly corrupt: Each serving federal or state officer must secure thousands of dollars per week in campaign funds, these necessary to secure re-election in any two or four-year term of office. And they ALL are into the auction of their votes or other official powers in order to secure continuation in office. Should they fail to gratify big money, and thus lose their hold on electoral office they lose pensioning and healthcare privileges unknown to their fellow citizens. Period.

Now, ordinarily George Ryan. the former Republican governor of Illinois, could have expected to have no problems from a government in Washington run by his fellow partisans. But, unfortunately for him, a professor of journalism in the Northwestern University and his students, assigned to a program of investigative journalism, showed beyond question that no less than one-half of the persons on death row in the Illinois prison system could not possibly be guilty of the crimes for which they had been sentenced to the supreme penalty. This was not a question of technicalities, but one of totally stunning outright judicial and prosecutorial malfeasance.

Now US politicians are not very squeamish. But this was too much for Governor Ryan. In his last days in office he commuted the death sentences or pardoned outright all the people whose convictions had been called into question by the research of the students and their professor. He certainly was not about to personally sign death warrants authorizing the execution of these people. The Bush regime, which like all other Fascist regimes needs a war on crime at home as much as it needs war on foreign foes abroad never forgave this governor for this action and sought and obtained his legal destruction for misdemeanors which they could prove on ANY and ALL other US politicians, whenever they so choose.

And this they did also in one other case: Dan Siegelman, the Democratic Party's governor of Alabama was a stone in the throat of an otherwise near-seamless Republican control of all the states of the old southern Confederacy. Charges of corruption were brought against him, easily proven, and this governor too went to jail. Again for activities which are essential to the survival of any US politician of whatever party. Now the partisan behavior of the prosecutors and their official superiors in the national Department of Justice have resulted in yet another scandal.

I am no partisan of either the crooked Democratic Party or of any of its officials ... but, being no fool, I understand that the Republican Party is no different.

As a big media circus is organized around this Governor Blagonovich and his alleged misdeeds, and, doubtless as attempts are made to somehow involve the new president-elect, Barack Obama, all persons with a lick of sense are urged to understand these matters in perspective. In the USA corruption is a big tent, one which involves all politicians and all parties. This is why I never will write for domestic media; only for VHeadline.

Thanks for your readership, and we want you to offer your dollars, euros, pounds or yen.

From the imperial capital.

Chris Herz
cdherz44@yahoo.com

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Venezuela is facing the most difficult period of its history with honest reporters crippled by sectarianism on top of rampant corruption within the administration and beyond, aided and abetted by criminal forces in the US and Spanish governments which cannot accept the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people to decide over their own future.

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