Recent Commentaries

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The Supreme Issue
In an Op-ed for U.S. News and World Report, GOP Presidential candidate Rick Santorum wrote that “Polls show Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to ObamaCare, especially the individual mandate.” Is he right or wrong? While the Supreme Court deliberates the constitutionality of The Affordable Care Act, Pollster Mark Blumenthal at Huffington Post has done some fairly comprehensive work cataloging the public’s...
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March 30, 2012
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The Round-Up
Here’s a re-cap of recent issues that have caught my attention. Representative Charles Rangel, (D) from New York, who was censured by the House in 2010 after the Ethics Committee found him guilty of 11 counts of ethics violations, (failure to pay taxes, improper solicitation of fundraising donations, failure to correctly report his personal income), has agreed to pay $23,...
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March 28, 2012
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Sorry Bill, You’re Wrong
Last Wednesday, (Mar. 21) comedian Bill Maher wrote an Op-Ed for The New York Times; the gist of it being that he’s tired of all the apologies. From celebrities to politicians, anyone and everyone with a voice in the media for what Maher believes are incidental infractions of polite society. “I don’t want to live in a country,” Maher writes, “where...
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March 26, 2012
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Fire with Fire
In the run-up to Super Tuesday, outside political action committees “spent three times as much as the candidates themselves according to a Wall Street Journal analysis…” “Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich spent a combined $2.4 million on television ads during the last two weeks in Ohio, Oklahoma, Georgia and Tennessee, the contests with the most delegates Tuesday, according to a...
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March 23, 2012
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The Dilemma
Here is an ethical quandary submitted by a friend. “You’re playing in the club championship finals and the match is halved at the end of 17 holes. You have the honor and hit your ball a modest two hundred fifty yards down the middle of the fairway, leaving a simple six iron to the pin. “Your opponent then hits his...
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March 21, 2012
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Grace in the Golden State
Wade Clark Roof is the J.F. Rowny Professor of Religion and Society and Director of The Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Author or co-author of 14 books and over 100 articles, Clark’s mission through the Center is “to advance conversation on major public issues, ethics and...
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March 19, 2012
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Root Rot
Global Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs lost $2.15billion of its market value the day after London-based employee Gregory Smith told the world in a New York Times Op-Ed that the company is not only “toxic and destructive,” but is only interested in “How much money did we make off the client?” In 2009 Rolling Stone story, reporter Matt Taibbi called Goldman...
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March 16, 2012
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You and Me (But Mostly Me)
“It’s a story of when cynicism and idealism collide, when you have to do the things that are necessary to win to try to get in office to do the great things you want to do for the country.” That was McCain/Palin campaign honcho Steve Schmidt commenting to Joe Scarborough on Morning Joe about his time spent with Sarah Palin. (It also...
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March 14, 2012
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Let’s Be Honest – Good Guys Edition
 » Read more about: Let’s Be Honest – Good Guys Edition  »...
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March 14, 2012
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Character – You Respond
The level of thoughtful comments I received regarding my character question was impressive. On March 2, I asked, What does it mean to you to have strong moral character? Amanda from North Carolina wrote, “My thoughts on morality and ethics continue to evolve as my understanding of the historical concept of morality develops. Do I care about a president’s sexual affairs? No....
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March 12, 2012