Watching BP CEO Tony Hayward respond to questions by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on oversight and investigations reminded me of Enron Chief Jeff Skilling’s testimony in February, 2002. Skilling: Congressman, Enron Corporation was an enormous corporation. Could I have known everything going on everywhere in the company? Hayward: We drill hundreds of wells a year around the world. Skilling: I don’t recall that…...

During the 1920s, Americans enjoyed sports like never before, and why not when they could enjoy the likes of baseball’s Babe Ruth, boxing’s Jack Dempsey, football’s Red Grange, and tennis champ Bill Tilden. However, none exemplified the truest principles of sportsmanship better than Robert Tyre “Bobby” Jones, Jr. During the 1925 U.S. Open, Jones’s ball ended up in the rough...

Clearly, the most contentious issue facing the country in the last 18 months has been health care reform.  While a majority of people believe that reform is necessary, the details of that reform have driven most to distraction. PolitiFact.com is a collective of reporters and researchers for the St. Petersburg Times whose purpose is to “find the truth in politics” by examining “statements by members...

Last week, I spoke to four High School classes about the importance of honesty and trust. As part of their take-home assignment, I asked them to answer a six question survey – part of a national survey given to High School students across the country by The Josephson Institute of Ethics. They only have to respond “Yes,” or “No.” 1. In personal...

“You are trampling on our constitution,” Craig Miller shouted at Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Spector last Tuesday. “This is about the dismantling of this country,” Katy Abram added. “They are talking about killing people,” said Laurel Tobias. The question that kept coming up for me was, WHY. Why are people so angry? Why are so many lashing out, like never before, at...

“They can beg and they can plead But they can’t see the light, that’s right Cause the boy with the cold hard cash Is always mister right…” – Madonna, “Material Girl,” 1984 That’s it, right next to the Boca Burgers.  That’s the $90,000, in cash, the FBI found in former Representative William Jefferson’s freezer. Wednesday afternoon the Democratic Representative from Louisiana...

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”             – Winston Churchill What is said:  “I’m lovin’ it.”  “Can you hear me now?” “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand.” What you hear:  McDonald’s, Verizon, M&M’s. As pollster and word specialist Frank Luntz points out in his book “Words...

Sitting in a Chinese restaurant, I remember opening a “fortune cookie” which read:  Confucius say… Wealth and renown gained without honor are nothing but drifting clouds. More than 2,500 years later, the Chinese philosopher and social thinker would probably laugh to discover that much of his wisdom has been distilled and tweaked to fit inside the modern invention of a cookie which...

Manny Ramirez is gone, suspended for 50 regular season games, but should he be allowed to play in this year’s All-Star Game? Ramirez’s suspension ends July 3. The All-Star Game is played on July 14th. Legally, Ramirez is eligible to play. Ethically? New York Times ethicist, Randy Cohen writes “There are potent arguments against the use of these substances [steroids], invoking respect for the...

On Monday, February 10, 2009, Alex Rodriquez’s life changed forever. The highest-paid player in baseball, called the greatest player in the modern game, also called Mr. Clean by some, because he was never directly tied to drug use, finally came clean (after reporter Selena Roberts broke the news in Sports Illustrated) when he admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs and lying about...