Recent Commentaries

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The Fog of Torture
“Washington – President Bush reversed course on Thursday and accepted Senator John McCain’s call for a law banning cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of foreign suspects in the war on terror.” Wait, I’m sorry, I quoted the wrong story.That story, reported by the Associated Press, appeared on December 15, 2005! Let me start over. “Washington – March 8, 2008, President Bush...
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March 8, 2008
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Dear Roger
February 8, 2008 Mr. Roger Clemens c/o The Washington Hilton Hotel and Towers Washington, DC Re: Testifying before Congress Dear Roger, In the past week you’ve been seen going from door to door visiting members of congress trying to drum up support to counter the negative statements about your alleged steroid use in the Mitchell Report. Don’t do it. You’ve been...
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March 7, 2008
Top Ten Ethical Lapses of 2007
I don’t know about previous years, but 2007 certainly seemed to be a banner year for good and bad, (mostly bad) ethics-related stories. So many stories, so hard to choose… only ten! January 1, 2007 started when Eliot Spitzer, New York’s ethical sheriff, is sworn in as the 54th governor of that state. A key campaign pledge: ethics reform. “If there is...
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March 5, 2008
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It’s Ethics, Stupid!
The genesis of this site began with an experiment. I have long believed that ethics-related stories consistently dominate the news. You can’t open a major newspaper without finding at least one, usually more, ethics scandals in sections A and B. But I never sat down to take a closer look. So, from January 1 until December 31, 2007 I decided...
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March 3, 2008

Read Some of the Most Recent Articles
The Latest... And Often Greatest
If It Looks Like a Duck…
Donald Trump has never hidden his disdain for anyone or any institution he believes stands in his way. Near the top of that list is...
A Tale of Two Voices
Two voices, both alike in reach and power, Speak into a divided world. One feeds grievance. The other calls for grace. Influence still carries power....
How Do We Manage Division?
Recently, I found myself returning to a question I’ve asked in different forms for years: what does it actually take to hold a country together...
The Supreme Court is Broken. How Do We Fix It?
As distilled from an email update from Michael Waldman, President and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court struck down...
Leadership as a Moral Act
Britain’s King Charles III spoke to a chamber that, for a moment, set aside party labels—Democrat and Republican—and listened not as factions, but as participants...
Unity is Not a Declaration. It’s a Discipline.
How does a country move from argument to action? The shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is not an isolated event. It is part...