I was just reading this article in The Independent and it got me to thinking about the state of modern ethics. What happened? When did ethics become just a conept rather than an actual principle to live by?

The whole fiasco behind what is called the "Palmgate" incident reaks of unethical behavior. I don't consider myself a saint, but the idea that someone forged documents which stated that the Iraqis were trying to buy Uranium for building nuclear weapons is insane. The article claims that it was these documents that were picked up by Italian intelligence and contributed to the misconception that Iraq was harboring weapons of mass destruction. That's not just being unethical that's being evil.

How do you cope with that? I don't think everyone has to be perfect, if nothing else that would just be boring, but it seems like everywhere we look now people just keep getting worse and worse. It's depressing. How about this for a troubling question, is the problem that we just aren't choosing ethical leaders anymore? or is the problem that ethics and politics are mutually exclusive?