In 1999 it was Columbine; Fort Hood, 2009. The 2011 shootings in Tucson claimed six lives and U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords almost became the seventh victim of that massacre. Now, Aurora. It’s impossible to make sense of the senseless. In his 2009 book, How to Practice – The Way to a Meaningful Life, His Holiness writes, “If your life is easy...

In 1995, while doing research on the creation of The Lone Ranger, I spent four days with Fran Striker, Jr., the son of the creator. Fran shared many stories about his dad, most if not all, reflecting his loyalty to friends, his compassion toward others and his integrity as a human being. Striker, Jr’s own writings are reflective of his dad’s deeply...

You can say good-bye to another time-worn expression. Apparently, dead men DO tell tales. And in the case of Val Patterson confession is good for his soul. Before dying of throat cancer last week, the 59-year-old Patterson left behind his own obituary in which he gives clarification (and perhaps seeks a little redemption) for a few sins from his past. “I have confessions and...

While former Penn State assistant football Coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted last month of sexual assault against 10 young boys over approximately ten years, we have now learned that Penn State’s President Graham Spanier, Vice-President Gary Schultz, Athletic Director Tim Curley and Head Coach Joe Paterno all knew of Sandusky’s behavior and did nothing to stop it. In a scathing,...

According to a recent Gallup poll (July 10) “Confidence in newspapers is now half of what it was at its peak of 51% in 1979.” However, I recently came across an example where a reporter remained committed to doing the right thing in spite of professional and social pressures. With people closing in on the identity of Deep Throat – the mystery...

Martha Payne is amazing! On her first day in school, the Scottish nine-year-old pictured and posted a review of her school lunch online. Below a photo of a small pizza, cupcake, some sweet corn and a single, reconstituted potato croquette, Payne wrote, “I’m a growing kid and I need to concentrate all afternoon and I can’t do it on 1...

Political pundits and experts love to predict. In the case of conservative Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, it would seem all the experts had a better chance of going to their local carnival, dropping a nickel in Mr. Predicto, and reading the response on air from that little pop-out card. When it came down to a final decision on President...

Attending a party on the Fourth of July, I spent some time listening on the edge of conversations, much of which were about politics. “I don’t understand,” one fellow says, “how the government can send Martha Stewart to prison for insider trading when all those folks on Capitol Hill, who never had a pot to piss in, are all millionaires...

We interrupt our special Fourth of July commentary for this TMZ Exclusive: Jim Lichtman, ‘Renowned’ Ethics Specialist, is Lost! Lichtman was last seen giving Mel Gibson advice outside an L.A. eatery (as captured by this grainy cell-phone photo) around June 14th. Sources close to the writer confirmed that in spite of his work with the “ethically challenged,” Lichtman was reported to...

Health Battle Enters Round 2 – That was the weekend headline in the Wall Street Journal (June 30-July1). I’ve written about some of issues surrounding the health care law earlier this year: (March 5, April 20). However, no sooner had the Supreme Court ruled that The Affordable Care Act was constitutional than the lines were drawn on opinion pages as well as Congress as...