Friday’s news carried two business-related stories that, on the surface, may not seem similar but really demonstrate a double standard when it comes to guilt. Paul Deen took to YouTube Friday to apologize for using the “n” word. In part, Deen said, “I want to apologize to everybody for the wrong that I’ve done. I want to learn and grow...

It’s become routine for Republicans in Washington to: a) discover an impropriety; then, b) examine if the president has any connection to it. Since his re-election, President Obama continues to deal with the fallout from three controversies: the deaths of four Americans at Benghazi, the questionable AP phone taps by the Department of Justice and the IRS scandal. Back in...

To say that Oprah Winfrey is a force is not to overstate the obvious. Known simply as, Oprah, she is, among other things, an actress, producer, talk-show host, business woman, and philanthropist. But she has become much more than that. Actually, that is precisely where Oprah’s particular excellence lies: inspiring others to become more in their own lives. In fact, the logline in the...

“Hey you! “That’s right, you on the couch with the bag of potato chips. Wanna be an actor? Want to star in a hit TV series, but don’t want all the fuss and expense of enrolling in The Actor’s Studio, then spend years studying “the method” honing your craft? Well, you’ve come to the right place, because Bravo-TV has a...

Before Sheryl Sandberg there was Sister Mary Benedict. The other night, I settled back to watch an old (1945) classic and was surprised to discover a few ethical indiscretions. The Bells of St. Mary’s tells the story of kindly father O’Malley (Bing Crosby) who is sent to the run-down school of St. Mary’s in a town comprised of only fine,...

Downton Abbey is the British-produced, period drama on PBSthat everyone… including me, is watching. It’s a character study of two classes: the lords and ladies of privilege that occupy the drawing rooms in the castle that is their home; and the household keepers who maintain all of that fuss and fury. It comes in weekly installments not unlike the monthly chapters written by...

This Sunday, Hollywood awards its highest honor, the Oscar, to top films and filmmakers of 2012. Zero Dark Thirty – a film depicting the hunt for Osama bin Laden – up for Best Picture, has become a political football due to what many have called gross inaccuracies. Taking a break from dealing with the budget, sequester, the debt and debt ceiling, Senators Dianne...

Just off the 101 freeway in Carpinteria, California back from the road sits Rudy’s, a strip-mall-style Mexican restaurant where the tacos are tasty and burritos are muy bueno! It’s a place where my web designer Harold and I show up to meet… well, first a little backstory. Seventh grade and I’d just been hit with a stunner of a homework assignment: prepare a...

Of all the films whose central character demonstrates a highly developed moral compass, High Noon tops my list. Why does High Noon still matter? Never has one film captured the essence of an ethical dilemma along with the variety of rationalizations against doing the right thing as this 1952 western does. Written by Carl Foreman (who was facing his own dilemma with McCarthyism...

“If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.” – Lincoln, April 1864 What stands out in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln is how different this man is from everything we think we know about him. He has doubts. He fights with his oldest son as well as his troubled wife. He battles his own cabinet to get what he wants, and he’s willing to...