Recent Ethics Commentaries

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I Will Return, Shortly…
I know I’ve been a little absent here for the last few days and planning to be absent a few more. However, it’s all for a good cause. I’m in the home stretch of finalizing the new book regarding an ethical examination of Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. (If you have not done so already, you can read...
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February 2, 2011
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A League of Their Own
In my book, What Do You Stand For?, holocaust survivor Judy Meisel writes, “The statement, ‘What can I do, I’m only one person?’ upsets me. One person can do a lot!” That phrase came to mind while I was reading a paper from one of my New Hampshire students. “I have done some good things for people, but I have done more...
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January 28, 2011
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Educating Jim
“Why do we study ethics? What does it mean to be a person of character, integrity, honor?” Those were the questions I posed to students at the beginning of a week-long class at the New Hampshire Technical Institute on ethics. “Most people want to do the right thing,” I said. “They want to be worthy of the respect and admiration...
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January 26, 2011
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Examined Life 101
To begin with… it was cold. The kind of cold that makes a New Hampshire apple snap with juicy flavor. Unfortunately January is not apple time, and I was not there to enjoy the fruit of the state but the fruit of knowledge.  (I know… I know. This explains why I’m not Robert Frost.) I arrived at the New Hampshire Technical...
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January 24, 2011
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Nurses Do it Again!
For nine straight years, nurses continue to rank the highest in the Gallup organization’s annual Honesty and Ethics survey. They would have scored first in the last eleven years if it wasn’t for firefighters snagging the top spot in 2001. The survey results were released on December 3 of this year by the Gallup organization that has been running the annual survey since 1976. “Eighty-one...
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December 10, 2010
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Pursuit of Excellence
In the sports film, Blue Chips Pete Bell is a college basketball coach with an abiding integrity for the game he loves and a passion for his student players to succeed in life. But he’s got one problem – losing. For Coach Bell, losing is a four-letter word that he cannot, will not tolerate. Coming off a losing season, he hits the road to...
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November 15, 2010
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Little Notice, Big Mistake
It was a story that got very little notice. In fact, I almost overlooked it in a small corner on a back page of The New York Times. “House Ethics Official Steps Down,” (Oct. 15) the headline reads.  “The staff director and chief counsel of the independentOffice of Congressional Ethics in the House, Leo J. Wise, (pictured),  » Read more about: Little Notice,...
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October 22, 2010
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The Ring of Gyges
Angelo Mozilo, U.S. Representative Charlie Rangel, Tiger Woods, Quarterback Brett Favre, Governor Mark Sanford are just a few who have been involved in ethics-related scandals. “Why do powerful people with so much to lose push so hard to squeeze out a little more gain for themselves?” That’s the great question posed by Wall Street Journal reporter Jason Zweig recently. (Oct. 16). Zweig...
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October 20, 2010
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Say it Ain’t So, Norm!
I like this guy. Alright, I’m not much of a groupie, but… if I were ever invited to The White House, the person I’d most like to meet would beNORM! “It’s a dog-eat-dog world and I’m wearing milk bone underwear.” No, not that Norm, but I have no doubt that Norm Eisen, President Obama’s “ethics czar,” probably feels that way most days.  » Read more...
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September 13, 2010
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Jim’s on Hiatus
Okay, that’s really a fancy way of saying that I’m going on vacation. Actually, I’m not going much of anywhere. What I will be doing is spending a lot more time, reading, thinking, and writing. I need some time away from a deadline to be able to step back and get some perspective. Looking at this year’s archive, here are a few...
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August 2, 2010