In the news

<h2>"Every lie is an exception we carve out for ourselves."</h2>

--Bill Curry, columnist for the Hartford <i>Courant</i>, former councillor to President Clinton and gubernatorial candidate in Connecticut. From his March 11 column on the Libby trial and lying among politicians.

According to <a href="http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070331/NEWS0201/7033… article in the <i>Tennessean</i></a>, the Tennessee House passed a bill that would allow lawmakers ten days to correct 'errors' in their campaign finance disclosure forms once the Registry of Election Finance warned them of problems.

We have been doing a lot of research into the scene in Iraq, and in doing so, I have formed an opinion regarding what single form of corruption has been the most significant in creating the situation there...
It is the selection of people for roles there based on political persuasion, rather than demonstrated competence in the required field. Of course other things have occurred that warrant mention, but in all cases, the <b>sheer stupidity</b> of some of those actions stems in most cases from the complete incompetence of the people assigned to the tasks.

In Isle La Motte, Vermont, according to <a href="http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070319/… recent article in the Burlington <i>Free Press</a>,</i> the longtime town clerk and treasurer diverted $100,000 of town funds to her own use.

Personal interest vs. public interest is central to government ethics. We tend to think, however, that it's central to them (officials) not to us (citizens), and that we have nothing to learn from this sort of ethics. 

Well, we're wrong. 

No Retreat, No Surrender: One Man's Fight.' If only this were the title of a civil rights leader's memoir. But no civil rights leader would talk about 'one' man's fight; it was a group effort. Only someone who falsely sees himself as walking into a sunset alone after a gunfight would use that subtitle for his memoir.

The memoir is Tom DeLay's. It is a title chosen by someone who sees himself as an unrepentant victim.

Connecticut House Speaker James A. Amann has been receiving a great deal of criticism for asking lobbyists for contributions to the charity he works for as a paid fundraiser (including criticism from me: see <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/239"&gt; my blog entry on fundraising problems</a>).

South Africa's police commissioner upon the revelation that he had met privately and repeatedly with a drug kingpin:

"Does that mean that anyone who has an appointment with him is a criminal?"

<p><img src="files/Top10Films.png" /></p>

<p>We have been batting this around for a while, and have come up with the following list:</p>

<h2>The Top Ten BEST ETHICS Movies of all time</h2>

<h3>1. Man for All Seasons</h3>

<p>Paul Scofield brilliantly plays Thomas More who stands up for his principals against the ultimate difficult boss, King Henry VIIII. In the end, he dies for his faith and his principals, but he gets to become the patron saint of lawyers.</p>

<a href="http://davisvanguard.blogspot.com/2007/02/conflict-of-interest-on-count… an interesting, intelligent lay discussion</a> about a particular alleged conflict of interest, and how to deal with local conflicts in general. It centers around an entry in a local-politics-oriented blog in Davis, California.