There’s a new TV commercial making the rounds.  It shows a large group of fire fighters assembled in a room that looks much like the House of Representatives. The House speaker is a fireman, and the man at the podium is a fire chief.  The speaker gavels the group to order and the chief speaks. “Alright, firefighters settle down,” the...

“The promotion of human rights remains the most effective strategy for eliminating inequalities between countries and social groups, and for increasing security,” Pope Benedict XVI told the United Nations General Assembly in a speech Friday (April 18). “Indeed, the victims of hardship and despair, whose human dignity is violated with impunity, become easy prey to the call to violence… “…every...

“I don’t pick the winner,” Air Force Major General Stephen Goldfein reportedly said, “but if I did, I’d pick SMS.” That statement comes as part of a report that found that Goldfein helped award a $50 million contract to a favored company. According to the Department of Defense Inspector General’s report, “The investigation found that the December 2005 award to...

The Washington Post reported that Pilar O’Leary, head of the Smithsonian Latino Center resigned last February due to 14 ethical and conflict-of-interest violations. According to a report the Post received in response to a Freedom of Information request, “The investigation revealed that O’Leary has not always acted in the best interests of the Smithsonian,” and that “Her conduct has violated...

Matt Sanchez left Santa Barbara only twice – once when he joined the Marines, the other, when he went to prison. In 1987, as the leader of the Eastside Hoods, Matt called the heads of the area’s other twelve gangs together. After several shootings, he wanted to put an end to the violence. The peace treaty lasted for five years....

Beverly Torok is the best example of an athletic coach!  As swim coach at New Jersey’s Westfield High School, she teaches her student athletes more than the rules of the game.  She teaches them how to be ethical citizens. Case in point: New Jersey State Swimming Championship, March 2000. “With our team ahead on the scoreboard, in this very tight...

Former WorldCom auditor Cynthia Cooper continues a conversation about the ethical downfall of the telecom giant in her new book, “Extraordinary Circumstances.” What caused employees at WorldCom to become complicit with the fraud? “Most people don’t wake up and say – I want to become a criminal today. Instead, they venture down a slippery slope one step at a time....

The day Cynthia Cooper’s life changed she was sitting in a hair salon wrapped in tin-foil when she received an angry call from her boss, WorldCom’s Chief Financial Officer Scott Sullivan As head of internal audit for the telecom giant, Cooper had asked the company’s external auditor, Arthur Andersen about a questionable accounting maneuver.  Sullivan was incensed that she was...

Colman McCarthy, peace activist, and former columnist for the Washington Post wrote a provocative Op-ed (Sanctimony’s Turn at Bat) on Roger Clemens’ appearance last February before a House Committee.  The purpose of the hearing was to discuss Clemens alleged steroid use as outlined in the Mitchell Report. “This is the second time members of Congress have posed as drug-busters cleaning...

John McCarthy is a former knuckleball pitcher in the Baltimore Orioles organization who, in 1992, started his Home Run Baseball Camp for kids in Washington, DC.  John teaches that“Talent is what you have; effort is what you give,” and there’s no room for drugs in striving to be your best. We had a conversation about baseball’s steroid scandal shortly after the...