Those of us that keep a keen eye on US Politics, realize that generally Politicians appoint Judges, and Prosecutors are either Politicians or are appointed by Politicians.

We only sometimes see Vividly the results of a much veiled Partisanship. 
You've seen it with the James Bork and Clarence Thomas hearings for the US Supreme Court. 

We also witnessed it vividly when the predominately Democratic Florida State Supreme Court upheld the Democratic Party's appeal of the Bush/Gore
Election Results, only to see the predominately Republican US Supreme Court uphold the Republican Party's appeal. 

We have seen wholesale Pardons of Democratic contrbutor's on President Clinton's last days,  Congressional Committees try to "blacken the eye of" or even send out of office or to prison, any number of  the "opposition", and a long history and litany of "shenanigan's". 

Italy's Prosecutorial and Judicial are even more blatantly Partisan.
So it should not be of any suprise when we read reports below.

What we must keep in mind, that the Left (including many "recycled" Communists), have been in power for 30 years, and therefore, well entrenched, are accustomed to Protecting  their Friends and Punishing their Enemies, using "Justice", not as a Shield, but as a Sword. 

The Berlusconi government, and it's allies have attempted to "blunt" the opposition parties Partisan efforts, by passing laws and issuing decrees.

I have not yet decided whether I dislike Berlusconi more than I like him, or vice versa, 
and whether his wealth, or whatever method he used to acquire it is suspect.
And am I willing to use the same standards with him, that I do with current and recent leaders in the US??   
========================================================
Thanks to Franco Gianotti, 
Publisher of   Italy at St. Louis Index Page 
http://www.italystl.com/

ITALIAN PROSECUTORS FACE WEAKENED POWERS

Miami Herald
Tom Rachman
Associated Press
Tue, Feb. 04, 2003 

ROME - A decade ago, a scandal known as Bribesville changed Italy, as prosecutors uncovered widespread government corruption, threw hundreds of politicians in prison and became national heroes.

Times have changed.

The government of Premier Silvio Berlusconi, on trial for alleged corruption, is tweaking the justice system to weaken powerful prosecutors while also examining the Bribesville probe.

Those moves have sparked fury among Berlusconi opponents.

Berlusconi told the nation in a televised address last week that civil servants have no right to hunt an official chosen by voters.

"The government is of the people and of those who represent them, not of those who won a civil service exam and now wear a toga," he said.

Berlusconi and his former defense minister, Cesare Previti, are accused of bribing judges in Rome to sway in Berlusconi's favor a ruling on the sale of former state-controlled food group SME in the 1980s.

The last time Berlusconi was accused of corruption, his government toppled. Coalition partner Umberto Bossi yanked out his support after charges were filed in 1994. Bossi said last week that elections should be called if Berlusconi is convicted this time.

Berlusconi argues that biased left-wing prosecutors have been targeting rightists for years and changes are needed if justice is to be equal for all.

But prosecutors warn that Berlusconi's campaign is seriously damaging their credibility and even could harm the fight against the Mafia.

The government passed a controversial law last year allowing defendants to have trials moved if there was "legitimate suspicion" of bias.

Current proposals include restoring criminal immunity for lawmakers - a measure canceled in 1993 amid the corruption scandal - and establishing a commission to investigate the Bribesville investigations.

The leader of those 1990s probes, former top prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro, says the government is dangerously discrediting the justice system.

"I'm very worried about what they want to do, and what they will do," he said. "They'll end up making rules in which they simply can't be judged."

Yet many Italians believe prosecutors may have gone too far in pursuing Berlusconi.

Political analyst Sergio Romano does not believe in a left-wing plot against Berlusconi, but says ideology does play a role in the cases that prosecutors pursue.

"There's a feeling shared by a large number of Italians that Berlusconi was the target of criminal actions when maybe lots of other people could be considered responsible for the same kinds of crimes," he said.

"After all, the '90s proved that pork-barrel politics had been a very wide phenomenon."

The probes in the early 1990s uncovered a widespread system of kickbacks from businesses to public officials. The scandal wiped out leading political parties and produced a new breed of leaders, including media mogul Berlusconi.

Berlusconi, who was a cruise-ship crooner before becoming Italy's richest businessman, long has been accused of amassing his fortune illegally. He has faced several criminal cases, but so far all charges have been rejected on appeal or expired through statutes of limitation.

However, many of Berlusconi's rightist allies were torn down by the Bribesville probes and the premier says prosecutors have not let up. He complains prosecutors have started 87 probes into his business interests - with more than 1,500 court hearings - since he entered politics a decade ago.

Italy's top court ruled last week that the "legitimate suspicion" law did not apply in Berlusconi's case, prompting a furious denunciation from the premier.

"Judicial persecution," he raged in the videotaped statement released on national television.

When Berlusconi's last government fell in 1994, a group of centrists formed a government. That will not happen again, Berlusconi pledged, saying he rather would call new elections than have another parliamentary faction take power.

Meanwhile, anti-Mafia activists in southern Italy worry that the fight against prosecutors could damage the dangerous battle against the mob.

Umberto Santino of a Mafia documentation center in Palermo fears that Berlusconi's proposed legal changes offer "a crack in the armor that opens up favorably for the Mafia."

Romano argues that Berlusconi has erred in pushing a piecemeal rejiggering of the justice system when a thorough overhaul - notably to divide the roles of judge and prosecutor - would be less suspect.