Republicans are corrupt. Democrats speak out. The media hears about it. Something happens. Republicans maintain power. Circle of life.

The latest case comes from my home state of Ohio: The Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation decided to halt their $50 million investment in rare coins after the Toledo Blade published several articles — and I mean several articles — surrounding details of the investment. They questioned if the coin dealer and fund controller, Tom Noe, earned the investment legimately since he is a Republican fund raiser, mirroring the current majority party in Ohio. Noe raised $11,000 for the current governor, Bob Taft and $4,000 for Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH).

Even though the investment made a rough 20 percent return for the Ohio BWC, some of the coins in the deal were stolen when they were reported "lost in the mail." One of Noe's former managers was previously convicted of felony fraud. Noe is now under federal investigation for illegal donations to the Bush-Cheney campaign.

Now, who cares about what the Toledo Blade reports? Well, The Blade did win the Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism. Not the New York Times. Not the Washington Post. The Toledo F-in' Blade.

So they're kinda good at this whole investigative thing. Now they blew the lid on a nickel-and-dime operation, literally.

A few weeks ago I engineered a staff editorial for my former college's newspaper in which I wrote that if the state is making money, what's the big deal? Sure, there were probably a few mistakes made, just like everyone drives over the speed limit and jaywalks and drinks underage, but the state is in a budget crisis and money made should be a welcome sign. Noe and the state, granted, made a few gaffes as well. And the Blade kept breaking new stories with new errors. And they made a difference, because now the state pulled their investment.

But back to the whole Demo-publican thing. Throughout all these stories, the Democrats have been calling for the heads of the GOP, while the elephants defended their boys.

This smells of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) and U.N. Ambassador Nominee John Bolton — blindly defended by his team, mercilessly attacked by his opposition. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice got it when she was being approved by Congress for her current position. Bush got it, gets it and will get it for the next three years. And even Tom Noe, Gov. Taft and anybody who voted for Bush essentially "hears about it."