Who ya' gonna bribe?

It is of course amazing to read that the federal government didn't get something right the first time. Washington has re-indicted the Smith and Wesson sales VP and 21 other arms dealers for being willing to bribe an African government official. (He didn't exist; it was a sting.) The move is of interest primarily to lawyers, but for you hard-core anti-government radicals, it's another small entry in your Washington WTFs journal.

We condemn bribery of foreign officials. However before we get all Huffington Posty about hanging these guys by their merchant-of-death thumbs, we ought to recruit some sentencing consultants who (a) have sterling reputations for integrity while at the same time (b) possess extensive experience in doing business with governments still at the juju level of linear logic.

The other thing that comes to mind is a question on priorities. Would the feds have better spent the money and man hours rooting out domestic bribers of domestic officials?

There is a delicious characterization there of newly minted integrity crusader Chris Dodd as "somebody playing a new and uncharacteristic role as he pushes his bill rewriting the rules of regulating Wall Street: 'In the twilight of his career, history and a touch of Catholic guilt have now pushed Dodd, the consummate insider, into the role of reformer: the old Senate telling the new that it must act to have any hope of redemption. Twice in the past week, Dodd has gone to the Senate floor to deliver hard-nosed lectures challenging those who would stand in the way of new financial regulations after the disastrous market meltdown in 2008'."

You see, Senator Dodd understands that since he is retiring from the Senate it is high time we ended the influence of big money on senators.