Recent Commentaries

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Is This the Face of Humility?
Last month (May 14) after JPMorgan Chase Chief Jamie Dimon acknowledged “sloppy, stupid” mistakes that led to a $3 billion (maybe more) loss by the big and risky bet division of the United States’ largest bank, I wrote that “Dimon needs a lot more intelligent decision-making, and at the top of that list I would put: HUMILITY. So, how has...
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June 15, 2012
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The Pill
“I was thinking faster, harder, there was no fog – and nothing could distract me. I felt like Sherlock Holmes.” That’s what an 18-year-old high school student reported after taking a 36mg. tablet of Concerta, a drug used to control symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. A few years ago I was returning home from the east coast by plane....
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June 13, 2012
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June 2012 Ethical Hero – Howard Schultz
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...
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June 12, 2012
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Far Worse
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...
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June 11, 2012
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Freedom vs. Responsibility
“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...
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June 8, 2012
Featured image for “Ethics vs. Morality”
Ethics vs. Morality
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...
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June 6, 2012
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Big Gulp or Big Brother
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...
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June 4, 2012
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The Blowhard
“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...
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June 1, 2012
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What’s the Point?
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...
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May 30, 2012
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This One’s for Bruce
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...
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May 28, 2012

Read Some of the Most Recent Articles
The Latest... And Often Greatest
Who Watches the Algorithm?
We are building machines that may soon judge, persuade, police, diagnose, hire, fire, and even help governments decide whom to trust. Yet we still have...
He Just Does His Job
I’ve been listening to and watching Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia for more than a year now: his speeches, his questions in Senate hearings,...
Why Donald Trump Has Pulled Me Back In—Again
Last August, I wrote that I was “stepping back from the chaos” of Donald Trump. I meant to write about his presidency only when his...
Scott Pelley Responds
During a contentious staff meeting at 60 Minutes, Scott Pelley spoke out sharply, criticizing the judgment and decision-making of CBS News editor in chief Bari...
The Clock is Still Ticking. But Now It’s Ticking for CBS
I began watching 60 Minutes when it premiered on September 24, 1968, when Harry Reasoner and Mike Wallace introduced a new kind of television journalism:...
God Has Chosen Donald Trump
At a Trump-backed Christian prayer rally on the National Mall in Washington on May 17, officially called Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise...