Republicans against the rule of law: As has been noted many times in this column and elsewhere, a large number of mostly Republican legislators have been bought by Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun. He has donated lavishly to their campaigns, and for many months they have prevented a desperately needed new bridge from being built across the Detroit River.

This is a bridge that would cost taxpayers nothing, create thousands of new jobs, and bring us billions in federal highway money. Creatures like state Sen. Roger Kahn (R-Saginaw) couldn't care less about that, of course. But thankfully, not everybody is like him.

Earlier this month, Wayne County Circuit Judge Prentis Edwards, by all accounts a fair and uncorrupted man, threw Moroun in jail for contempt of court. This really seemed to anger his legislative lackey, whose comments then shocked even callous me.

Kahn wasn't alone. Cheerful chucklehead state Sen. John Pappageorge of Troy, a former soldier now too dumb for the peacetime army, indicated that he knew Moroun hadn't lived up to his agreement with the state to build the Gateway project in a way specified in a legal contract, signed by Moroun's firm.

But that didn't matter to Pappageorge, because, as he said, "Now kind of from photographs and so forth, I have looked at both versions. I think the Moroun version is better."

Yeah, Beetle Bailey. Did you forget that people are supposed to live up to signed contracts and obey the law? That was low humor, however; what Kahn said was evil: "This is strikingly similar in vindictive spirit to the practice of communist governments sending the bills for the execution of 'counter-revolutionaries' to their families after the firing squads did their bloody work."

Kahn sounded mostly like some demented member of the Weather Underground.

Except those anarchists weren't paid off by a billionaire. State Sen. Tupac Hunter (D-Detroit) summed up Kahn brilliantly, right on the Senate floor. "To color your nose brown is inappropriate and unworthy of this chamber," he said. What he should realize, of course, is that since Matty came into Roger's life, he hasn't seen daylight. 

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