Alzheimer’s is a disease that robs an individual of their personality one piece at a time. Particularly insidious is the fact that some of the personality traits that once appeared as petty irritations of life, can grow to become acts of shocking intolerance. This brings me to the recent news about Donald Sterling. The L.A. Clippers owner went on a racist rant...

From Donald Sterling to May Angelou (what a stretch), The Take looks at the top ethics stories (and one memorial) of May. Rochelle, Rochelle – First Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling signals (May 23) that he may empower his wife, Rochelle, to handle the sale of his NBA team, then… Whamo! Less than a week later, ESPN reports (May 28) that,  » Read more about: The Ethical...

It’s OUT-RAGEOUS! Where is Rachel Maddow? Where is Fox and Friends!? Where is House Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa? Subpoenas should be flying! What’s outrageous? California Chrome! No, not the car show on sunny California beaches. I’m talking about that upstart thoroughbred that creamed the competition in the Kentucky Derby and decimated the field in last week’s Preakness.  » Read more about: Sniffgate...

Why do I call Dan Piraro the Pope of Pop Culture? He doesn’t just “draw funny cartoons,” he creates visual essays that perfectly capture the zeitgeist of the moment. In that sense, he’s a contemporary Socrates, walking through our modern life questioning the status quo. The Vlad and Ed Show – For those of you who believe that reality shows...

What happens to a whistleblower after they blow the whistle? Are they considered heroes or villains? Do their actions inspire others, or are the personal risks too great? Those are some of the questions that are explored in a podcast(Mar. 11), by Julia Taylor Kennedy for the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. Taylor Kennedy begins her conversation by talking to...

The Dow Jones on compliance and ethics; BP on doing the right thing; and an action-oriented entrepreneur top the list this month. Who says nobody’s interested in Ethics? – A full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal publicized The Global Compliance Symposium to be held next month in Washington, D.C. Organized by Dow Jones, the purpose of the two-day conference is to...

Ted Nugent is a shameless hate-spewing demagogue. Nugent’s remarks – past, present and more likely future – are not poorly chosen, dumb or inappropriate. They’re dangerously wrong. Last month, Nugent defiantly called the president of the United States “a Chicago communist-raised, communist-educated, communist-nurtured subhuman mongrel.” This month, Texas attorney general and candidate for governor Gregg Abbott welcomed (that’s right, welcomed) the rocker to his...

While part of Wednesday’s commentary brought out the fact that not all members of Congress are corrupt, the perception of political corruption continues. According to the results of a survey by the campaign reform advocacy group United Republic, 51 percent agree with the statement that “most politicians” are “corrupt.” I’ve quoted ethicist Michael Josephson in the past as well as crediting...

Foodbabe – What’s the difference between the bread at your local Subway and a yoga mat? Apparently, not enough! Subway restaurants announced that it will stop using the same chemical used in the production of plastic yoga mats that they use in some of their bread. On her drive to improve what America eats as well as how they eat, Vani Hari,  » Read...

According to the most recent survey by The Ethics Resource Center, America’s oldest nonprofit for advancing high ethical standards and practices, “workplace misconduct is at a historic low.” (No, that’s not a set-up for a joke.) The 2013 National Business Ethics Survey, conducted every two years by the organization, “…shows that 41 percent of over 6,400 workers surveyed said they have...