Can we rejoin the Commonwealth?

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So, after recalling that the government had simply decided not to investigate its possible role in the Anthrax attacks on Senators Daschle and Leahy, it struck me that the investigation into the death of Senator Paul Wellstone -- who was threatening to derail the march to the invasion and occupation of Iraq -- did not end satisfactorily, 'satisfactorily' here meaning 'with the President, Vice President and Secretary of Defense shackled in a cell.'

Thanks largely to Joshua Micah Marshall's work at Talking Points Memo, this tendency simply to not investigate its own suspected misdeeds became pretty apparent during the US Attorney scandal, and is now a little less tenable. But, in 2002, the press totally took it in stride.

When I lived in Kenya, Scotland Yard came to investigate the death of Minister of International Cooperation Robert Ouko, whom the Kenyan government insisted had shot himself, stabbed himself, hanged himself, set himself on fire and threw himself out of a helicopter. Even Robert Mugabe has allowed various investigations to point the finger at his cronies, and from the third world here and there, you hear stories of investigations unconvering government misdeeds, and you wonder, "Why would a kleptocracy investigate itself at all?"

I think it's the Commonwealth. We're a former colony of the crown of England! Can we still get in?

PS Home prices are down to 2004 levels. This seems to be chugging along pretty quickly. Maybe they'll get to 1997 before President Obama takes office, keeping the blame focused where it belongs. Yeah, I'm aware that's cynical political thinking. And, I'm still hoping President Pelosi takes office first.