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;...

“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...

How long does it take to correct a wrong? On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor.  Two months later, President Franklin Roosevelt signed United States Executive Order 9066;an order that moved approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans into 10 internment camps located in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming. FBI Director J. Edgar...

Bloggers don’t receive letters. We receive “comments.”  While all of my “postings” appear here, I offer some on Huffington Post, and the reactions from readers are interesting. Regarding my post about the need for more women in decision-making positions in the Catholic Church (What Would Rev. Barbie Do?, April 9), one reader wrote, “Go Episcopalians! Diet-Catholic… Twice the fun and half...

No, those aren’t the Cartwrights and we’re not on the Ponderosa. This is what I wrote concerning Honesty and Trust in America on March 28, 2008: When it comes to corruption, the Four Horsemen of the Ethical Apocalypse remain:  Money, Power, Influence and Arrogance. In a 2006 survey that I conducted with Zogby International and the Center for Cultural Studies and Analysis,  » Read more about: Still Riding High...

“Within yourself, deliverance must be searched for, because each man makes his own prison.”– Edwin Arnold, English poet Take a look at this picture.  It’s a point of view directly behind Tiger Woods on his first day at The U.S. The Masters, golf’s golden crown. Imagine the pressure. Look at the background, the crowd, the cameras, the media – most of which...

The Discovery Channel’s action-packed show features science-based adventurers Jamie, Adam, Tory, Kari and Grant as they explosively (sometimes, literally) examine the scientific veracity of a variety of pop culture movie myths and old wives tales. Their weapon of choice in determining the truth is the scientific method (along with a modest budget).  According to executive producer Dan Tapster, in the seven...

“The greatest political saga, the one that has it all, that gets to the real heart of American politics, is the John Edwards story…This isn’t just politics, it’s literature. It’s the great American novel, the kind that isn’t written anymore.”  – Michael Wolff on John Edwards’s trajectory, Vanity Fair That’s the introductory quote on Amazon.com for the “tell-all” written by former political aide...

On Monday, (Jan. 11) former St. Louis Cardinal slugger and current holder of baseball’s single season home run record (70), Mark McGwire finally admitted to using steroids in the ’90s In a sincere, at times, tearful interview with sportscaster Bob Costas, McGwire said, “I apologize to everybody in major-league baseball, my family, the Maris’ [Yankee Roger Maris was the former record holder], Bud...

In the cut-throat world of fine Parisian dining, the food critic is King.  In the Pixar movie Ratatouille, Anton Ego (superbly voiced by Peter O’Toole), is Emperor!  “The Grim Eater” as he is known, strikes fear into the hearts of anyone even thinking about offering a new dish without his “divine” approval. In my little niche of essays on ethics, I strive...