I would like to see more discussion about how the political philosophy of the Republican Party is changing the America into a Corporatist Plutocracy. If one catches a politician from the Democratic Party engaged in illegal or unethical activity, one has caught a crooked politician. However, if one catchs a Republican in such activity, one has simply caught an individual practicing the values of his Political Party.

For example, the happy gerrymandering Tom Delay has been in the news a lot lately, for things other than his Terry Schiavo escapades. And so have his Republican friends:

Jack Abramoff, one of Washington's most powerful and best-paid lobbyists in Washington DC wrote to a Texas (Native American) tribe in June 2002 to say that a member of Congress had "asked if we could help (as in cover) a Scotland golf trip for him and some staff" that summer. "The trip will be quite expensive," Mr. Abramoff said in the e-mail message, estimating that the bills "would be around $100K or more." He added that in 2000, "We did this for another member - you know who."

A tribe spokesman has since testified to Congress that the 2002 trip was organized for Representative Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican and chairman of the House Administration Committee, and that "you know who" was a much more powerful Republican, Tom DeLay of Texas, the House majority leader and old friend of Mr. Abramoff's.

The e-mail message of June 7, 2002, is part of a mountain of evidence gathered in recent months by the Justice Department, the Interior Department and two Senate committees in influence-peddling and corruption investigations centered on Mr. Abramoff, a former college Republican campaigner turned B-movie producer turned $750-an-hour Washington super-lobbyist.

Of course, in keeping with the Republican non-accountability philosophy, everybody is to blame for their situation but themselves.

Mr. DeLay has blamed Democrats and the "liberal media" for stirring up old - and, he says, discredited - ethics accusations against him.

If that's the case, thank God for Democrats and the Liberal Media!