Howard Schultz is not sitting around waiting for Congress to do something about jobs. Credited for making Starbucks the number three restaurant chain in America, last April, Schultz has raised the capitol and consciousness for jobs through an initiative he calls Create Jobs for USA. “My message” Schultz said in an interview on CBS This Morning, “is the following: we...

Watergate — a name forever synonymous with former President Richard M. Nixon. Forty years ago this month, I was glued to the TV watching the Senate Watergate Committee hearings, and astounded at the laundry list of accusations made against then President Nixon that would eventually lead to his resignation – something no one could ever imagine, let alone see come to...

“We’re not taking away anybody’s right to do anything. All we’re trying to do is remind you that this is something that… is detrimental to your health and to do something about this national epidemic.” That’s New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg defending his proposal to ban sugary sodas in containers larger than 16 oz. from restaurants, concession stands and movie theaters in...

A recent e-mail from friend and colleague Jamie O’Boyle directed me to a news story from The Catholic Sun, an online newspaper from the Dioceses of Phoenix, Arizona. Father Thomas Williams, dean of moral theology at the Rome’s Pontifical Regina Apostolorum University in Rome, “who has appeared over the years as a church analyst for CNN, CBS, ABC and Fox...

There he was, everybody’s favorite mayor (well, maybe noteverybody’s), New York’s own Michael Bloomberg staring down at me from a full-page ad in Saturday’s (June 2) New York Times with the bold headline, The Nanny. A fiscal conservative, Bloomberg is credited for turning New York’s $6 billion deficit into a $3 billion surplus. He’s in favor of abortion rights as well...

“I do not understand the cost benefit here… what voter is gonna vote for [Mitt Romney] because he is seen with Donald Trump? The cost of appearing with this bloviating ignoramus is obvious, it seems to me.” In a rare moment of pique, that’s how mild-mannered, conservative writer George Will described Donald Trump – the business magnate, author, self-obsessed TV...

Recently a reader asked, “We know ethics scandals are all over the news. We know politicians are corrupt, that bankers, CEOs and executives lie, cheat and steal. So, what are you trying to tell us that we don’t already know? What’s the point?” The point of the site is this: to understand that there is an ethical dimension to many...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a stunning announcement on the steps of the Capitol today, scientists from four leading research centers believe they have found a direct link between the ethics scandals of the last five years – perhaps going back as far asfive decades – and a chemical imbalance in the brain. The new disease, which scientists are calling “Involuntary Ethics...

Last Friday’s post talked about business ethics. One reader asked about a potential conflict between the needs of a shareholder to make money versus needing to do right by employees. “Can you be equally ethical to both? Is it ethical for a company to deprive shareholders of additional money in order to maintain an ethical working environment?” Creating and maintaining...

During a session of Contemporary Ethical Issues, a class taught by me and Professor Stephen Ambra at the New Hampshire Technical Institute, the subject of bullying came up, which prompted me to ask, “Show of hands, how many of you have ever been bullied?” Out of 36 students, I was surprised to discover an overwhelming majority had faced ridicule, coercion, harassment,...