You dirty rat...

Ah for the good old days of Jimmy Cagney gangster flicks, when you could tell the good guys from the bad.

In news that further re-inforces the Republican corruption as a bad gangster flick image (see fedora Jack Abramoff here) Time is reporting that Duke Cunningham wore a wire while co-operating with the feds.

Washington's power players have always bragged about being well-wired, but for disgraced former congressman Duke Cunningham, "wired" wasn't just a figure of speech. In a week when legislators are focused on the question of who else might be brought down by ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s cooperation with prosecutors as he seeks lenient sentencing over his two federal guilty pleas this week, sources tell TIME that in a separate investigation, ex-Rep. Cunningham wore a wire to help investigators gather evidence against others just before copping his own plea.

Many before me have suggested the idea of the Bush crime family and I've already resisted the tendancy. But doesn't this stuff begin to remind you of an old episode of Law and Order?

Washington DC, where the government is corrupt and the Republicans are nervous.