There will always be senseless acts of violence in a free society, but… …when will we develop the social consciousness that says, we will not allow tragedies like Newtown, Connecticut to happen again and again? When will we act like the adults and parents we want our kids to be? When will we demonstrate the fundamental respect for each individual,...

I realized that in today’s fast-paced, scandal-driven, ADD-addicted, multi-platform media age, everybody offers awards but me! No longer. Owing to the ‘true’ American spirit of our fast-paced, yada, yada, yada age, I hereby offer The (First Annual?) Ethics Stupid Turkey Awards. Honorable mention: * Rudy the Parrot. C’mon folks, are we really that desperate to “Find out what’s happening,  » Read more about: The Turkeys are Here!...

Spoiler Alert: The following commentary contains absolutely NO shameful or shocking ethics scandals! Every day, we open newspapers, (on iPads, Kindles, etc.) to read, principally, bad news. Cable channels assault us with every angle on all manner of fraud, corruption, deceit, bribery, and the old reliable, sex scandal. But good news is out there. The Ethisphere Institute is an international think-tank based in New York whose...

Fifty years ago, I came to Mr. Freeman’s freshman Algebra class struggling to understand little x’s and y’s. The Cuban Missile Crisis came into all of our living rooms at a time when the term “Special Bulletin” meant something more significant than “Breaking News.” For thirteen days, two nations stood on the verge of nuclear war and while I was...

Who knew the legendary star of screen and Republican conventions was into the great ethical conundrums of the universe! In the years that Dr. Sara Anson Vaux taught religion at Northwestern University, never once did she consider that underneath Clint Eastwood’s gruff veneer was… a gruffer layer, but… underneath that was the heart of “…an ethicist, a theologian even.” Vaux recently published a...

Some students today are getting so good at rationalizing it’s scary. “You could study for two hours and get an 80, or you could take a risk and get a 90.” “When it came to French class, where the teacher had literally taught me nothing all year, and during the final the students around me were openly discussing the answers,...

This story has been sitting on my desk since early May, and I confess that while it may not be the most vital ethical issue of the day, it’s an interesting one. I have several vegan friends who have made pretty persuasive arguments against meat. “To encourage omnivores to do some of the same hard thinking that vegetarians and vegans...

In 1995, while doing research on the creation of The Lone Ranger, I spent four days with Fran Striker, Jr., the son of the creator. Fran shared many stories about his dad, most if not all, reflecting his loyalty to friends, his compassion toward others and his integrity as a human being. Striker, Jr’s own writings are reflective of his dad’s deeply...

While former Penn State assistant football Coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted last month of sexual assault against 10 young boys over approximately ten years, we have now learned that Penn State’s President Graham Spanier, Vice-President Gary Schultz, Athletic Director Tim Curley and Head Coach Joe Paterno all knew of Sandusky’s behavior and did nothing to stop it. In a scathing,...

We interrupt our special Fourth of July commentary for this TMZ Exclusive: Jim Lichtman, ‘Renowned’ Ethics Specialist, is Lost! Lichtman was last seen giving Mel Gibson advice outside an L.A. eatery (as captured by this grainy cell-phone photo) around June 14th. Sources close to the writer confirmed that in spite of his work with the “ethically challenged,” Lichtman was reported to...