Adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, Mr. Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence clearly lays out the principles – both ethically and spiritual – that we stand for. The opening sentence sets in motion an unequivocal understanding that God gives both independence and equality and that due to the “opinions of mankind” they declare themselves an independent country. When in the...

During the first of what would become my favorite two years, I was listening to the Moody Blues (on cassette), Tchaikovsky’s 1812 (on vinyl) and Simon and Garfunkle’sSounds of Silence. I studied theater and philosophy, worked on a college production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and rock-climbed. I read Clarence Darrow for the Defense, Carlos Castaneda and Hamlet.  » Read more...

When founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that his social media giant, Facebook, had reached the equally gigantic goal of 500 million users, my first reaction was, “What’s Facebook?” I mean, I’m computer literate – have been since the stone age of 1990. I rely heavily on my laptop for all work and most long distance communication. However, when Facebook was explained to me,  » Read more...

I first spoke with vascular surgeon John Baldwin in March of 2000 when I was collecting stories for my book, What Do You Stand For?  That initial contact led to an eleven-year friendship. Before going to Vietnam, John specialized in open-heart surgery but decided upon the broader fields of general and vascular surgery, he says, “to give my people skills...

No sooner had the White House announced that the so-called “death photos” of Osama bin Laden would not be released to the public than the debate began about the right and wrong of such a decision. CNN’s Piers Morgan had an energetic exchange Wednesday night between New York Times reporter Nick Kristof, former Chief Prosecutor at Guantanamo Colonel Morris Davis,...

Lately, the words Breaking News have come to represent the latest announcement by Donald Trump or stories about Charlie Sheen or Lindsay Lohan. Last night, shortly before 8:00 pm (pst), network silliness morphed into dramatic sobriety that demonstrated one of the primary purposes of journalism: to provide citizens with important, accurate and trustworthy information. CNN, ABC, NBC,  » Read more about: Real News  »...

Ever since I began searching the Internet I started collecting quotes. Particularly interesting was to see the connective tissue of both knowledge and character that would emerge. It didn’t take long to discover a pattern – that true wisdom knows no period in history, religion, culture, race, age or gender. Here are just a few to consider: “What you do...

On July 10, 1985, among hundreds of newsworthy events around the world, were the following: Bishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel laureate, charged into an angry mob to save a suspected police informer from being burned to death. An Israeli court convicted 15 Jewish terrorists of murder and other acts of violence against Arabs. A Turkish supertanker was struck by an Iraqi...

At the height of all the Watergate scandal coverage in the ‘70s, TIME magazine ran an interesting story about Jeb Stuart Magruder. Don’t remember Magruder? He’s the man frequently mentioned in the first hour of the movie All the President’s Men. Based on the 1974 book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two investigated the initial break-in at...

In 1954 journalist Edward R. Murrow stepped away from his role as news reporter to speak out against the blatant demagoguery of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy. According to an article by Carl Hausman published in The Institute for Global Ethics, “Murrow protégé Walter Cronkite noted that Murrow was troubled about taking an editorial position, but felt he had to break the rules...