Barack Obama makes sense to me. I think he’s trying to be what an elected man should be. There’s only so much he can do, but he’s trying to do it. I would take his advice on this issue, i believe. If it was up to me.

Our laws are drafted by those who intend to break them, so?
Has anyone ever seen any political party, committee, or official correct itself?
How did all these people get elected? Why once elected do they have to be dragged away screaming after decades of “only doing their duty?”
Professionsal Politician are just that, Professional Politicians.  Their terms in office should be limited, two terms no more.
When they are on TV, you zapp. Voters are delicate, so Senators must be taken with a grain of salt expecially the white-haired, pommaded variety.

Independent: (1)not affiliated with a larger controlling unit:[CFR,TRI-LaterialCommission, Federal Reserve, England. Bilderberg Group, Bank Cartel](2) not requiring or relying on something else or somebody else:[Lobbyists](3)not easily influenced: {Money, Money](4) not committed to a political party; [Dems, Reps, Self, Me-Myself and I]
An Ethics Committee should be made of the same individuals as a jury- real independent citizens with total control over all U.S. Government Offices-CIA, FBI, NSA, etc, etc.
I am awake now, what a funny comment/dream- I know fat chance.

Ethics panels would be a tool in itself for corruption. I remember McCarthy panels being for “the good of America”. I like Sen. Barack Obama, and only wish politics had more the flair for integrity than deception. If politicians must sell that integrity, good riddence. If this is the “political arena” then status quo must go. No other way to deal with this issue than to penalize monetarily. We take possession of criminal’s personal property on the streets, I would like this done for political criminals as well. Seize their homes, cars, accounts, pensions, etc. regardless of family holdings. You can’t hide the profits within your family or within your political party. Campaign war chests, or family homes or accounts could be given to national healthcare, social security, homeless issues, or national disaster funds for use in hurricane katrina type issues or like examples. If one, as a people’s representative, violates an ethics issue it should cost them to include incarceration. The rules are in place, they just need to be enforced.

If we would save our democracy from those who can buy it, the time to act is now.  Any system of ethics must be clear, succinct, and--as a two-edged sword--be able to cut both ways.  Dilatory tactics is this matter amount to the denial of a system of effective ethics in our American Congress.  If not now, when?  If not by the newly elected political majority, who?

An ethics commission...I must say this sounds like a smoke screen to me. Isn’t the FBI already tasked with the job of tracking corruption?

It seems to me there are to many ways to hide corruption. To many ways for politicians to “pay out” for their puppet masters. To many dirty politicians to honestly clean em out(who would be left?). This is an issue that has gone BEYOND a mere stop gap measure. Nothing less than sweeping reform can fix this issue.

Earmarks, Legislation for $$, Offshore accounts, future employment deals, stock option deals, indirect pay (pay to some entity or person connected to the corrupt politician), PACs, 501c, use of expensive services or goods for free(or they pay far less than real value), “speaking” fees, yada yada.

If these doors are all closed others will undoubtedly open.

Of course, there are some small steps that can be taken. Make earmarks illegal. Make it so that bills (legislation) cannot be hinged. Meaning no more tacking measures unrelated to the bill onto the legislation. [Ex. Defense appropriations tacked onto an Education Bill.]

Another area we can work on corruption is in the elections themselves. I have been saying for years it is time for us to pay for our own elections. It will cost us FAR less in the long run and open up our government to individuals not otherwise capable of becoming a candidate. Who knows maybe we could finally get beyond our 2 party system (or the two parties for the wealthy system, truth be told).

I do agree that something drastic needs to be done. I think an expansion of the FBI program complete with a strengthening of their mandate, new leadership, and a way to keep them accountable but keep them from having to answer to the politicians themselves (this includes a budget that cannot be threatened by congress).

Overall though this is an issue that will need to be thought out and rethought out many times. It isn’t something that one session of Congress will not be able to fix. The first steps may be taken but these will need adjustment. Also, the people will have to keep the pressure on. Washington is notorious for their tossing a band aid on and moving on.

This is a battle we MUST not lose. We MUST retake our government. We must realign our government with the people and remove the business interests that have brought us to one of the lowest points in American history.

B

http://b-political.blogspot.com/

If the Dem’s do not fix the corruption and begin to work to fix campaign finance reform they will watch me and a lot of others turn our backs on them forever and go vote Green Party.  THIS IS THEIR LAST CHANCE.  If instead they attempt to prove their uselessness on this issue like the Repug’s did they will no longer be usefull.  It truly makes me sad that we fought to put this in office if they dont fix it and I will not forget it in my future voting.  I will also not be baited back every few years with their lies like the Repug’s do with abortion and gays to their side, we promise to do something THIS time.  Until the money is takin out of politics the only thing anyone is promising to do is to continue to screw you and me to get rich.

The system will never be changed from within.

We don’t have political parties, we have crime families.

Sen. Feinstein is the obstruction to ethics/lobbying reform. My guess is she has some shady ties to war profiteers. However, Feinstein does not split the party, a vast majority want change. Throw her a pardon, and quickly move on.

The election is over and the backpeddaling has begun.  If the Democrats don’t do something about the corruption in the government, they will be replaced too. 

Abramoff got 6 years and will probably be out in three.  What a crock.  He stole millions and so did the politicians that used him.  Tom Delay is still free.  Why is that? The average American would have gotten life and everyone knows it.  That is why we have an army that no one joins.  That is why America is a dying power.  It is rotten to the core.  The people do not believe the lie anymore.

The country is broken.  The only way it will ever work for everyone is when the American people demand, through activism, that the politicians they elect do what we want them too. The electorate has to follow through to make sure their politicians are honest.  Otherwise the country will dissolve in despotism.

Demand that your elected officials know you take it seriously.  When they do their jobs financially support them.  When they do something you don’t like, let them know that too.

There appears to be ample evidence of corruption out there, but no one is even going to court, let alone jail. Why not? And is yet another bumbling and buyable bureaucratic institution gonna fix the problem? I’ll cross my fingers for you.

Dear Ms Feinstein,
Who do you think you are kidding?! Congress is grotesquely corrupt. We need to throw your big fat ass out of there too. You are the west coasts equivalent to Joe Lieberman. You and the rest of your colaborators who voted to invade Iraq and continue to support Israeli apartheid should GO!

Of course there should be an independent ethics commission.  We already have the “clear and concise” laws Sen. Feinstein mentions, but that hasn’t stopped anyone from breaking or bending them. 

I believe many of those now in office have had to compromise themselves too much to back the idea of an independent commission.  Sen. Obama is new enough to be relatively clean and should be encouraged to push for this.  Few of the others could afford to.

More important than an ethics commission, though, is public financing of campaigns.  The cost to taxpayers would be miniscule compared to what we have to pay the current campaign financiers in huge government handouts.  The current system certainly shows us that whoever puts a candidate in office owns that person. and by extension owns our government.  That’s the position only the public holds in a true democracy.  These politicians are to be beholden to no one but “we the people”.

Since we let electronic media use our airwaves free of charge, air time should be given to candidates.  Perhaps an independent commission could stage debates, taking that out of the hands of privately owned media.  Campaign time and resources should be equal for each candidate.  That would help open the field to bright, well intentioned persons without wealth or influence, and help discourage those who are only in it for personal gain and power.  It would also keep incumbents on the job they’ve been hired to do; not endlessly seeking funds or campaigning.  We know that a politician has to spend a good part of every day collecting money just to stay in the game.  It takes them away from the very important business entrusted to them, and breaks the spirit of those who just don’t have the stomach for it.

Anything to end earmarks is a wonderful thing, inculding Murtha’s defeat!

On the whole, I agree with Obama—there should be an independent commission. It may be cynical of me—but then again, politics is a cynical business. Human nature being what it is, I don’t believe that anyone can ever really be trusted to investigate and police themselves with complete objectivity—and that goes double for politicians and other people in positions of power. Anyone who’s ever taken a class in social psychology knows that many if not most people—even those who claim to have high moral standards—are not nearly as noble or as ethical as they say or even believe they are.

When Feinstein said that members of Congress would be certain to follow the rules as long as they were clear and precise, she was either being naive (which seems unlikely) or disingenuous. So nobody will be corrupt because corruption is wrong?!?  C’mon, Dianne...how stupid do you think we are? Most members of Congress already KNOW (or at least have a fairly good idea) of what the rules are, but simply choose not to keep them because they think they won’t get caught. One of the reasons why laws and rules exist in the first place is because human beings cannot be trusted to behave ethically without them. Just because something is wrong doesn’t mean that people can automatically be trusted not to do it—this has nothing to do with being Democrat or Republican, and everything to do with being HUMAN.