In 2005, I was invited to speak on ethics at a prominent university. I was escorted to a site on campus where the room was packed with students, teachers and administrators. I take my place at a table down in front near the podium for a luncheon that preceded my talk. An official in the room leans over and tells...

On May 1, 1969, Fred Rogers – the venerable host of the Public Broadcasting Service show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood – testified before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Communications which had jurisdiction over television and radio. At the time, PBS received $20 million. However, due to the demands of the Vietnam War, President Nixon was looking to cut the funding in...

“Democracy is the only system capable of reflecting the humanist premise of equilibrium or balance. The key to its secret is the involvement of the citizen.”         – John Ralston Saul “A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.” – Ronald Reagan “Nuclear weapons have posed an existential threat to humanity for decades. They undermine democracy by putting...

On June 2, a California judge ordered Stanford University student Brock Turner to serve six months in jail for sexually assaulting a female student. In a statement to the judge, Turner blamed the “party culture and risk-taking behavior” for his actions. On June 15, Congress will hold a special one hour presentation where congressional members, both men and women, will...

When I learned that President Obama had decided to visit Hiroshima while in Japan for the Group-7 meeting next week, the first person I contacted was David Krieger. As founder and president of The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Krieger has worked tirelessly for the abolition of all nuclear weapons. (And I thought ethics was a tough sell!) Obama’s visit gives...

Last Monday (Apr. 15), the editorial board of The Washington Post took notice of President Obama’s upcoming trip to Japan and called for him to visit Hiroshima where, almost 71 years ago, an atomic bomb was dropped by U.S. forces to end the war with Japan. “The bombings of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945,” The Post board writes, “and of...

With the shameful shenanigans demonstrated by all the name-calling, four-letter words, and rally violence by certain presidential candidates, you can only imagine what grade-schoolers think. That’s just what CBS News correspondent Chip Reid wanted to know. Reid sat down with five 5th graders, Max, Ella, Brynn, Ananya and Will, to ask them what they think about the 2016 presidential race...

Okay, I missed Lincoln’s birthday on Friday, but this is good. In light of the fiery attacks GOP candidates have thrown at each other, it’s interesting to consider a question presented by FlackCheck.org, the political literacy site: Could Lincoln be elected today if his opponents used today’s political tactics? The concept was developed into a 2012 social studies lesson plan...

If a year can be summarized with one word it might be entitlement: entitled to ignore the facts; entitled to change the law in order to suit your own religious beliefs; entitled to own assault weapon(s) and high-capacity magazines; entitled to ban all individuals of a particular religion from entry into the U.S. Let’s dispense with the easy ones first....

Dear Editor, Several of my friends say that news reports claim that Harper Lee’s new book portrays moral hero Atticus Finch as a racist. Someone told me that if you see it on ItsEthicsStupid.com, it is so. Please tell me the truth, is Atticus Finch a racist? Signed, Virginia Every-Reader Virginia, Your friends are wrong. Although reporters claim that the...