Ahh, New York’s Columbia University… where the walls are ivy, the shirts are Ralph Lauren and the pedigree (alumni) includes five Founding Fathers, nine Supreme Court Justices, twenty-nine heads of state and three U.S. Presidents. It’s also where the Pulitzer Prize acknowledging excellence in journalism is administered each year. But wait, what’s this? As The New York Times reported (Dec. 3, 2006)...

The defense always seems the same. Enron’s Jeff Skilling: “I didn’t get the memo… notes… e-mails,” “I do not recall.” BP CEO Tony Hayward reacting to the worst oil spill in U.S. history: It’s “relatively tiny” compared to the “very big ocean.” Robert Murdoch tweeted: “No excuses for phone hacking. No argument. No excuses either for copyright stealing, but plenty of ignorant...

“It’s not the right thing to do, but I did it.” That’s 92-year-old Hyman Strachman, a World War II vet, after spending eight years and his own money duplicating and sending thousands, according to The New York Times, (Apr. 26) “hundreds of thousands of copies of The Hangover, Gran Torino and other first-run movies from his small Long Island apartment to ship overseas.” “And,...

From January 1 to December 31, 2007 I decided to search, read and clip all the ethics-related stories I could find from The New York Times and Washington Post. The final count totaled 1,657 ethics-related stories. That’s an average of 4.5 stories per day. Looking at today’s (Apr. 26) Times and Post, here’s what I found: The Times – Fall of Chinese Official...

When was the last time I devoted an entire commentary to citizenship? I don’t know. I do know that while I’m sitting here waiting to be called for jury duty, I’m thinking about the hundred other more satisfying things I could be doing with my time. I’m also reminded of the frustration I feel when I’m seated in the jury box, am...

Should The Los Angeles Times have published photos of American soldiers in Afghanistan posing with enemy body parts? The story’s sub-head reads: “An American soldier says he released the photos to the Los Angeles Times to draw attention to the safety risk of a breakdown in leadership and discipline.” “The Army launched a criminal investigation,” reporter David Zucchino writes, “after The Los...

Like many, I’ve been frustrated and confused by all the talk about health care costs and reform. (I recently changed my insurance plan from a low deductible to one three times higher in order to save $7,400 over a year.) While The Affordable Care Act has been signed into law, the component that establishes affordable insurance exchanges is not due to take...

Sometimes we can be so focused on the details of life that we forget to look at the bigger picture. I was re-reading portions of peace activist David Krieger’s book “Hope in a Dark Time: Reflections on Humanity’s Future,” (Capra Press,2003) and was reminded and inspired by a larger purpose. To be human is to recognize the cultural perspectives that...

Last Monday’s commentary (The Trust Deficit) talked about insider trading – the use of non-public information to trade on stocks and other securities. However, what has been illegal for most of us has been perfectly legal for officials in Congress. With the passage and signing of The Stock Act, all this ends. Among the examples of insider trading, I cited author,...

On February 26, Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman near his home in Sanford, Florida. The 17-year-old, unarmed Martin was returning home after visiting a convenience store. Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer claimed that he shot Martin in self-defense. After Florida’s special prosecutor Angela Corey met with Martin’s parents she stated, “We did not promise them anything. In...