"Fraudulent Criminal Prosecution"

Anyone out there still wondering why the politicization of the Justice Department -- as was so thoroughly carried out under Li'l Abu Gonzales -- is such a scary and dangerous thing seriously needs to eat a bowl of dicks read this article from Harper's and the upcoming Time Magazine story about the Alabama prosecution of Governor Don E. Siegelman, a Democrat, and the ignoring by U.S. Attorneys in that state of related -- and worse, and well-documented -- crimes by Republican politicians. That this kind of selective prosecution goes on in George Bush's Republican America (and refusal to even investigate crimes committed by its ideological partners) shouldn't surprise anyone, but the depths of the corruption revealed in this particular case is almost stunning:

Those raising complaints of criminal conduct on the part of senior Alabama Republicans with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Montgomery are told in plain terms that the Justice Department is not interested in the accusations. And if they persist, they quickly become the targets of threats. In one case, it was asserted, a threat was leveled that a grand jury would be empaneled and an indictment sought: against the person raising the corruption charges.

The U.S. Attorney in Montgomery, Alabama, is one Leura Canary. Her husband is William Canary, a close personal friend of Karl Rove. William is also the campaign manager for current GOP governor Bob Riley -- who is named in the article as one of the politicians about whom there was plenty of evidence of corruption, but who was not investigated in any way by Mrs. Canary's branch of the DOJ, what with him being a Republican and all.

On October 18th, the House Judiciary Committee will hold its first-ever hearings on politically motivated prosecutions, with this particularly odoriferous example playing a central role. Feces, get ready to meet fan.