With all the chaos in 2016, I thought I’d end on a positive note. Believe it or not, there were some bright spots. Here are a few standouts that I’ve been collecting. MBA – that’s Masters in Business Administration, online – offers a list of those CEOs who demonstrated an extraordinary level of concern for others. Among them: Sally Osberg,...

“Journalists should accept moral responsibility for the foreseeable consequences of actions and inactions, including the example set for others and when in error, they should make full, fair, prominent and prompt corrections.”   – Michael Josephson, Ethical Principles of Journalism The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other news organizations offer readers the opportunity to “correct the record” regarding errors...

The day after the election – after Donald Trump was confirmed the winner – I sent a quick e-mail to a colleague: “Fear and prejudice just won last night.” His reaction was immediate and I’m paraphrasing, “Don’t say that! You’re using standard liberal stereotypes.” Was I? Since March 2008, this site has been devoted to writing about the good, the...

Hands down, my wife’s favorite movie – the one she watches till the end, no matter when it started – is Overboard; that over-the-top, can-see-the-ending-a-mile-away romantic comedy starring Goldie Hawn and real-life partner Kurt Russell. Joanna Stayton (Hawn), is a wealthy, stuck-up, supremely bored heiress traveling the world, apparently, on one of the largest private yachts imaginable, because her husband...

With all the noise in the world – much of it negative – it seems pretty clear that change is necessary and it begins with each of us. When religious historian Karen Armstrong discussed a long desired wish for a better world at a TED talk she gave in 2008, the organization decided to help fulfill that wish. On November...

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”                   — Mohandas Gandhi, 20th Century Indian political leader Recently, I ordered a hi-tech stationary bike for my wife for Christmas. Boy is she going to be surprised when she receives this gift that she has been hinting at (just a little), for the past couple of months. I...

Phil Connors: Do you ever have déjà vu, Mrs. Lancaster? Mrs. Lancaster: I don’t think so, but I could check with the kitchen. In January 2005, film critic Roger Ebert had an epiphany. Groundhog Day, that eccentric, wholly original movie where Bill Murray plays a narcissistic weatherman who relives the same day over and over, is in fact, a “Great...

While the election is behind us and Donald Trump is scheduled to be the 45th President of the United States, I’m trying to be hopeful that he will be a positive force for the country and do the right thing. But it’s getting difficult. On Monday, (Dec. 12), Trump announced he would delay a press conference scheduled for December 15...

A few years ago, a college buddy contacted me by e-mail with a headline and link to a website that talked about a conspiracy theory that he believed to be true. His message: “Jim, you need to look into this. You can’t believe what they’re doing!” This was the first of several messages all with a similar format: startling headline,...

We are standing on a precipice of an Alt-Reality where self-serving falsehoods are driving out truth and objectivity. Goodbye Walter Cronkite; hello Alt-Deceivers. Fake news stories have quickly taken on a life of their own. Part of this is due to the hyperpartisanship of the recent election cycle. Another part is due to Donald Trump shamelessly pushing false information at...