Did you hear about the politician who threatened to harm an ailing company unless it agreed to the politician’s campaign donors? Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich? Sure. But I could also be talking about dozens of congressmen, senators, or governors, most of whom are not currently under arrest.

In fact, such shakedowns of corporations are standard operating procedure in Washington and in many state governments, and the bailout bonanza on Capitol Hill makes such borderline corruption an everyday occurrence.