[yoe]

[snip] "Exploiting this gain, Speaker Pelosi is breaking a champagne victory bottle over the hull of a new set of House ethics rules. If you stare at these rules awhile, eventually you notice that they are less about the members of Congress than about someone else. They are about the bad people who lead the innocent lambs of Congress astray. They are about "lobbyists" and "private interests" and, not least, "corporate jets," which for the modern member of Congress appear to be the rough equivalent of demon rum."

[Long Island Pete]

Anyone notice the mockery Keith Ellison made of his swearing in? The "Which hand do I place on the Koran" jocularity was a despicable act.

[mighty_righty]

"Government spending...rose steadily to 20% of GDP. The spending itself runs to nearly $3 trillion dollars. These large numbers -- a veil for uncounted agencies, regulatory bureaucracies and federal rules -- represent what conservatives sometimes call Leviathan."

Leviathan - A metaphor for the state, the Leviathan is described as an artificial person whose body is made up of all the bodies of its citizens, who are the literal members of the Leviathan's body. The head of the Leviathan is the sovereign. The Leviathan is constructed through contract by people in the state of nature in order to escape the horrors of this natural condition. The power of the Leviathan protects them from the abuses of one another.

Hmmmm!

[IronJack]

Speaker Pelosi's Ethics

The Shortest Story Ever Told

[spintreebob]

Aficionados of the sport of political ethics

That's us freepers in Illinois, right? Where can more lessons be learned than here?

Corruption has been a bi-partisan sport ... like a ball game where both sides play for the bookie.

From '98 to '06 the good government, anti-corruption forces were dominated by conservatives with very few moderates or liberals calling for an end to corruption. In the Democrat primary, very few liberals had had enough. That was in stark contrast to the '60s when the good-government movement led by Republican Ogilvie was a truly equal partners coalition with liberals, moderates and conservatives campaigning for each other against the the corrupt in both parties.

But recently, there are indications that, yes, the liberals have had enough and are fed up. In November, while the conservatives stayed home and pouted to teach them a lesson (not clear who them is); the pro-choice, pro-gun-control liberals came out and voted for the conservative pro-life, pro-2d-amendment Republican Peraica.

Now, the liberal good government organization of Dem Lt Gov Pat Quinn is going public with their long standing, but suppressed, disgust with the corruption of the Dem Governor Blago.

It will be interesting to watch this act of the play. How many good government liberals will find the cajones to go public in 2007? How many opportunists will wait until the indictment is handed down before trying to posture with Pat Quinn for a plum position in his administration? How many opportunists will wait for the conviction before saying that they were for good government all along and quietly working behind the scenes.

Plan on watching and reading between the lines of the coming 3 Act Drama.

[randita]

During the Clinton presidency, we were told that "character" had nothing to do with personal morality, but referred to having the right stand on important issues.

I'm sure that "ethics" will end up being described the same way - at least as it refers to Democrats.

[MarkL]

"Exploiting this gain, Speaker Pelosi is breaking a champagne victory bottle over the hull of a new set of House ethics rules. If you stare at these rules awhile, eventually you notice that they are less about the members of Congress than about someone else. They are about the bad people who lead the innocent lambs of Congress astray. They are about "lobbyists" and "private interests" and, not least, "corporate jets," which for the modern member of Congress appear to be the rough equivalent of demon rum."

Which explains why it is that the "bribe-er" (in the case of the New Jersey Torch) is in prison for bribery, while the "Bribe-ee" (The Torch) is out and about!

Mark

[upchuck]

Amazing that an entire article can be written about something which has never existed and never will.