Recent Commentaries

Featured image for “Let’s Be Honest – <em>Talking Heads</em> Edition (with a little help from Politifact.com)”
Let’s Be Honest – Talking Heads Edition (with a little help from Politifact.com)
Share this… Facebook Pinterest Twitter Linkedin  » Read more about: Let’s Be Honest – Talking Heads Edition (with a little help from Politifact.com)  »...
Read More
June 14, 2010
Featured image for “Jim’s Handy Resource Guide”
Jim’s Handy Resource Guide
From time to time, I’ve been asked about ethics resources and there are quite a few good ones out there. The Ethics Resource Center “is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, dedicated to independent research that advances high ethical standards and practices in public and private institutions.” The ERC focuses its research in the areas of character education, federal policy, national surveys,  » Read more...
Read More
June 11, 2010
Featured image for “Mr. Wooden”
Mr. Wooden
Basketball Coach John Wooden died last week. While Wooden was remembered for his spectacular coaching career at UCLA, what I remember most is his letter to me in 1999 for my book, What Do You Stand For? I had asked Wooden and others to respond to this questionnaire:  What do you stand for; what principles have you lived by?  Describe a ‘moment of...
Read More
June 9, 2010
Featured image for “Living Like Ed”
Living Like Ed
Of course the biggest aspect to the whole BP crisis circles back to our dependence – not just on foreign oil – but oil… period. It’s the Jabba the Hut the media, in all their special reports on BP, doesn’t talk about. Anyone remember the oil crisis in the 70s?  Of course not.  That was 40 years ago. What began as anger from all...
Read More
June 7, 2010
Featured image for “What <em>They</em> Did Right”
What They Did Right
Perfection doesn’t happen every day, but last Wednesday, June 2nd, we saw a splendid example. Detroit’s Tiger Stadium, bottom of the ninth, two outs, and Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was facing Cleveland Indians’ Jason Donald. He was also facing one of the most elusive of baseball’s achievements – A Perfect Game: 27 batters up, 27 down, no hits, no walks;...
Read More
June 5, 2010
Featured image for “What BP Did Wrong”
What BP Did Wrong
“I don’t know how else to say it. All the things that they told us could never happen happened.” That’s what Mike Williams, the chief electronics technician on-board British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon told reporter Scott Pelley last month on 60 Minutes. “The tension in every drilling operation,” Pelley reports “is between doing things safely and doing them fast; time is money…” “We were informed...
Read More
June 4, 2010
Featured image for “Ask Phil”
Ask Phil
(No, not that Phil.) Ever find yourself walking the streets of life when suddenly, you’re confronted with a philosophical conundrum where you just need to know an answer right away? Well, there’s an app for that. AskPhilosophers.org, offers a noble collective of philosophers available to answer your questions via the internet or a free app for mobile devices.  Example: Q: “Is...
Read More
June 2, 2010
Featured image for “The Saddest Acre”
The Saddest Acre
Major John Baldwin served as chief of thoracic surgery with the 24th Evacuation Hospital in Viet Nam.  For his extraordinary service, he received the Bronze Star.What follows is John’s own Memorial Day message offered to a home town crowd. It’s a message of remembrance, frustration and hope. “Welcome to Twain Harte’s Memorial Day Flag Dedication, Parade, and Picnic.  We are most...
Read More
May 31, 2010
Featured image for “Who was Dr. John McCrae?”
Who was Dr. John McCrae?
Memorial Day originally called Decoration Day, was established as a day of remembrance to honor all those who fought on either side of the War of Secession or Civil War. In 1868, General Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic John Logan, designated the thirtieth day of May as the day on which graves of dead Union soldiers should...
Read More
May 30, 2010
Featured image for “World Citizenship”
World Citizenship
Yesterday, David Krieger offered a persuasive argument to the question, “Won’t the abolition of nuclear weapons leave the United States vulnerable?” I followed up with some questions of my own. Here are David’s responses. Q: “How do we convince irrational leaders to sign on to a plan to give up nuclear weapons?” Krieger: “These leaders may appear irrational, but their...
Read More
May 28, 2010