Let me get to the conclusion first before I elaborate: When it comes to ethics, most House Members of both parties have their heads set so far up their posterior orifices they are unlikely ever to see the sun shine again.

Past efforts to abolish the electoral college have foundered on the objections of small states, which worry that they would be ignored in the pursuit of giant voting blocs in big population centers. Have their claims no merit?

The Abramoff imbroglio spotlighted lobbyist-paid golf excursions to Scotland. But another kind of travel, on company-owned planes, has long been an open secret of life here. Lawmakers travel in style at bargain prices without airline delays and security checks while companies, who often send their lobbyists along, gain access and a chance to build good will. "It's an enormous discount for most of these flights, a tiny fraction of what it actually costs to operate the plane", said Norman Ornstein, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute who testifies frequently on changing lobbying laws. "It leaves when you want to leave. It goes where you want it to go when you want it to go there. You don't have to go through the normal security, and you get a lot more than peanuts."