The Boy Scouts of America have merit badges for Camping, Pathfinding, Farm Mechanics, Dog Care, even Pulp and Paper. In 1951 they added Citizenship in the Nation followed by Citizenship in the Community, while ‘72 brought Citizenship in the World. In all, there are more than 100 opportunities for Scouts to learn and earn. Surprisingly, there has never been a...

On June 24, Sotheby’s, London will be asking one exceptional buyer to spend more than $500,000 for an exceptional painting that has been hidden from the public for decades. German painter Max Liebermann’s Two Riders on a Beach is one of only two recovered works of art returned to their original heirs after it was discovered hanging in the Munich...

Religion is always a touchy subject. So is politics, but that hasn’t stopped Pamela Geller, who specializes in provoking religious groups, to continue to inflame under the guise of free speech. Welcome to the new American zeitgeist where the Second Amendment is now used as an umbrella ideology to justify all manner of rationalizations. Geller has been waging a one-woman...

Image too small? Click here to enlarge. Share this… Facebook Pinterest Twitter Linkedin  » Read more about: Let’s Be Honest – Cruel Summer Edition  »...

Which of the following statements is true? “Health insurance is one of the biggest rackets in America today.” “Health Insurance is a legalized version of the mafia?” Answer: Both. The first statement comes from a hospital administrator I used to know. The second comes from my own internist. Health care has become so politicized that it is virtually impossible for...

Ethics is often dry, serious, and yes, even depressing with the amount and frequency of individuals and organizations that we admire, trust, depend on, or root for caught up in all manner of conduct unbecoming. So, here are some questions to consider: Is it ethical to have fun? Can you have too much fun; not enough fun; is there an...

The style, the affairs, to be sure, but President John F. Kennedy also got much more right than some give him credit for. Looking through the lens of those who were there at the time, one inconsistency was brought to light by journalist David Talbot for a TIME magazine cover story from 2007. This remarkably perceptive story discusses Kennedy in...

In light of all the recent ethics scandals, what’s needed most today is authentic leadership – individuals who demonstrate, by example, how to make a difference for the betterment of all. U.S. Army Lieutenant General (Ret.) Hal Moore represents one such leader. In 1965, then-Lieutenant Colonel Moore led his vastly outnumbered troops in the first major battle of the war...

In 2000, after I had received a number of responses to my “What Do You Stand For?” questionnaire, I struggled with a problem: What is the most effective way to share these stories, and talk about the individual who submitted them? At the time, I was reading journalist Tom Brokaw’s book, The Greatest Generation Speaks, subtitled, Letters and Reflections. Brokaw’s...

Charlie Rose is perhaps the best in-depth inquisitor in media today. The Emmy award winning journalist is not only the host of his own nightly PBS program where he interviews America’s best writers, business leaders, politicians, athletes, entertainers, innovators and thinkers, he is my go-to newsman/anchor at CBS This Morning. Rose likes to observe or ask, “What does it mean,”...