Jennifer Westbrook is a graduate from Hampton University’s Honors College who loves the music of Miles Davis and the writings of Frederick Douglass. Her story of respect is a timely reminder of the importance of recognizing the dignity of others. “A homeless man sat alone on a park bench amongst the horde of people in the park. No one sat on the...

Who does it hurt? That’s the question that needs to be answered when examining the issue of athletes lying about the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. It’s a question that warrants meaningful examination by anyone who owns a team or sponsors an athletic event in which the public expects that athletes are not only giving it their physical...

Did you know that Barneys is having a Warehouse Sale with savings between 50-75% off? ABC Carpet & Home is offering similar savings for its Presidents’ Day Extravaganza! What would Mr. Lincoln say? “Money is only valuable while in circulation…” What about the bankers on Capitol Hill, yesterday, answering questions from a Congressional committee looking into what they’ve done with the first round of bailout...

When Harry Markopolos testified before the House Financial Services subcommittee this month regarding Bernard Madoff’s $50 Billion Ponzi scheme, what surprised and angered House members most were the numerous and detailed warnings the former investment manager had given the SEC since 2000. “Nothing was done,” Markopolos told lawmakers. “There was an abject failure by the regulatory agencies we entrust as...

Edith Frederickson loves to smoke. In fact, the 72-year-old Belmont, California resident has been smoking for some 50 years in bars, restaurants, airplanes, trains, indoors and out. However, two weeks ago the good citizens of Belmont enacted perhaps the toughest antismoking law in the country by banning smoking in all apartment buildings. The result:  Edith will no longer be able...

When New York Federal District Judge Charles Brieant, Jr. died last summer the staff began packing up his chambers.  However, among his personal items was a painting that has many people talking “Hanging on the wall,” the New York Times wrote, “along with portraits of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, was an oil painting of an obscure judge… Martin T. Manton who sat...

The last time Elwin Wilson saw Congressman John Lewis was at the Rock Hill, South Carolina bus station in 1961. Lewis was a young civil rights protestor.  Wilson was the white bigot who beat him up. After decades of carrying the painful guilt, Wilson went to Washington to meet with the Georgia congressman. “I’m sorry for what happened, down there,”...

Remember the Seinfeld episode where Jerry’s contacted about late fees on an overdue library book – twenty years overdue? Well, this one’s not quite as bad, but the individual returning the books has a good excuse. California State University at Fresno Library Dean Peter McDonald reported that he got a call from U.S. Airways Captain Chesley Sullenberger “…almost immediately about the books he’d borrowed that were...

The first time I became aware that the plane was in trouble I looked out the window and realized that the ground was coming up quickly. The oxygen masks dropped, and the pilot announced, “Yes, we want you all to put your oxygen masks on!” Flight attendants quickly went about helping passengers remain in their seats and put on their...

Jack Cafferty is CNN’s resident grouch. Five days a week, Cafferty has a segment on CNN’s Situation Room that frequents the three-hour program with questions to viewers; questions that cut-to-the-chase of all things political and cultural. In examining some of the details of President Obama’s stimulus package, Jack asks, “How does getting people to stop smoking stimulate the economy?” Or this, “[Republicans]...