Recent Commentaries

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An app for that?
According to TV ads currently running for Apple, there are some 85,000 applications – apps – available for the I-Phone3GS. Many, not all, are free.  Among those downloaded to my phone:  NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, CNN, and Confucius; all, handy references that I check throughout the day or week.   » Read more about: An app for that?  »...
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October 30, 2009
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This Is It
Sometimes we get so caught up in the bad news du jour that we forget to appreciate some of the good news. Now, for example, Republicans continue to speak out against the “new” health care bill from Democrats.  Democrats turn around and blame Republicans for the economic crisis and lack of regulation on Wall Street.  (The bad news.) However, Neel Kashkari “…hears...
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October 28, 2009
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Letters
I wish that Letters to the Editor carried a more prominent position in newspapers. Why, for the simple reason that there’s a lot of good, old-fashioned common sense coming from people across the country. Example:  While politicians and pundits have been batting the ball back and forth regarding Wall Street’s massive bonuses, they ignore similar issues in other sectors, as...
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October 26, 2009
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Highest Duty
On January 15, 2009, Captain Chesley Sullenberger had to make a series of critical decisions in 208 seconds.  As a result of his actions, he saved the lives of all 155 individuals on a crippled US Airways flight that had to ditch in New York’s Hudson River. In an interview (washingtonpost.com) conducted by Doug Feaver, Sullenberger talks about the qualities...
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October 23, 2009
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Lunch with Larry
Okay, boys and girls, it’s time for this week’s dilemma. You invite a friend to lunch.  Great conversation, terrific food, the check comes and the person you invited grabs the check first. Who should pay, the inviter or the person who grabs the check first? That’s just one of a plethora of ethical dilemmas “Larry David” faces on the HBO...
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October 21, 2009
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The Wrong Stuff
Last Monday (Oct. 12) I brought up the ethical issue facing Charles Rangel, the House Democrat from New York. Mr. Rangel has been under investigation for the past year regarding some questionable financial reporting. Recently, The House Ethics Committee has expanded their investigation into Mr. Rangel’s failure to “…report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income and assets from 2002 through 2006,” The...
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October 19, 2009
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Rogue Tutors
Rationalizations, I collect ‘em like baseball cards. “Everybody does it”; “They owe it to me,” two of my All Stars. Here’s what one client told me in a pre-talk interview justifying his company unethically obtaining inside information on a bid to get the jump on the competition:  “You don’t understand, Jim. We don’t want to do these things, but if we...
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October 16, 2009
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Who is PolitiFact and Can They be Trusted?
Whenever I’ve had a question about health care, or check up on President Obama’s progress; whenever I want to get the straight dope about people, pundits and policy issues, I pay a visit to PolitiFact.com. Who is PolitiFact? PolitiFact is a site owned and operated by The St. Petersburg Times  whose purpose is to help anyone,  » Read more about: Who is PolitiFact and Can They...
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October 14, 2009
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What Should Charlie Do?
New York’s Democratic Representative Charles B. Rangel, chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, has a bit of an ethical issue. The House Ethics Committee has expanded their investigation into Mr. Rangel’s failure to “…report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income and assets from 2002 through 2006,” The New York Times wrote (Oct. 9). The good news:  Last Wednesday, House Democrats blocked efforts...
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October 12, 2009
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Great Expectations
When I woke my wife Friday morning to tell her the news that President Obama had won the Nobel Prize for Peace, her first reaction mirrored that of many: “For what?” In an early morning speech Friday, Mr. Obama made clear, “I do not view [receiving this Prize] as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather an affirmation of American...
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October 9, 2009