Cue the summer movie, world-in-peril music, followed by a deep-voiced narrator. “There has always been a delicate balance between chaos and control.  Now, with that balance threatened, it’s time to turn to one man…” CUT TO: A ROTUND MAN SITTING AT A MICROPHONE – “Rush Limbaugh had listeners register as Democrats for one day to go vote for Hillary… This...

Air Force Colonel Morris Davis chief prosecutor at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba resigned last October due to political interference. “…we’ve really taken ‘military’ out of military commissions and inserted politics in its place,” Morris said in a December, 2007 interview on National Public Radio. “I took the job… with the agreement that I’d stay… as long as...

Yesterday, Senator Barack Obama spoke out against the inflammatory remarks made by his former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Last Friday, Wright gave a performance before the National Press Club in Washington that can politely be described as all show and no substance.  He blustered, he shouted, he postured and puffed, he drifted, he wandered and along the way he...

Three friends were called to the bedside of a friend who was dying.  The dying man says, “Look, I’ve led a good and happy life.  I’ve provided for my family, and settled with my business partners.  There’s just one thing I would like the three of you to do for me. “I want to give each of you $20,000 in...

There’s a new TV commercial making the rounds.  It shows a large group of fire fighters assembled in a room that looks much like the House of Representatives. The House speaker is a fireman, and the man at the podium is a fire chief.  The speaker gavels the group to order and the chief speaks. “Alright, firefighters settle down,” the...

“I don’t pick the winner,” Air Force Major General Stephen Goldfein reportedly said, “but if I did, I’d pick SMS.” That statement comes as part of a report that found that Goldfein helped award a $50 million contract to a favored company. According to the Department of Defense Inspector General’s report, “The investigation found that the December 2005 award to...

The Washington Post reported that Pilar O’Leary, head of the Smithsonian Latino Center resigned last February due to 14 ethical and conflict-of-interest violations. According to a report the Post received in response to a Freedom of Information request, “The investigation revealed that O’Leary has not always acted in the best interests of the Smithsonian,” and that “Her conduct has violated...

“I’m a Congressional Representative who has been accused of using my position to promote business deals in Africa.” ? ? ? “The FBI videotaped me receiving $100,000 in $100 bills in a leather briefcase at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Arlington, Virginia.” ? ? ? “A subsequent raid on my office by the FBI found $90,000 of the cash in my...

When it comes to corruption, the Four Horsemen of the Ethical Apocalypse remain:  Money, Power, Influence and Arrogance. In a 2006 survey that I conducted with Zogby International and the Center for Cultural Studies and Analysis, Americans have decidedly low levels of trust and confidence in its leadership.  “Most Americans,” the Center says, “have moved beyond thinking of violations of honesty...

Well… maybe with this guy, you could make the case for too much honesty. But the reality is that in the last several years we have seen an unsettling number of ethics scandals.  And every time another indignity is reported, our level of trust and confidence in individuals and institutions declines. In 2006, I wanted to know if these events were...