If you vote by mail, then die before Election Day, does your vote count? Not if you live in South Dakota. According to a (July 25) AP story, “Laws in at least a dozen states are evenly split between tallying and dumping the votes.” Most voters had not heard of this until the issue was raised during the last primary...

It’s 1938 and the darling of the British stage, Julia Lambert, has just finished another sterling performance.  The next morning, she throws another sterling tantrum. I was thinking about the Annette Bening movie, “Being Julia” when I read that the Boston Red Sox had traded their “sterling” left field slugger, Manny Ramírez to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The last several...

“Former White House adviser Karl Rove defied a congressional subpoena and refused to testify Thursday about allegations of political pressure at the Justice Department, including whether he influenced the prosecution of a former Democratic governor of Alabama.”  — The Washington Post, July 10, 2008 When did we reach a point where the former deputy chief of staff to the president...

Does a corporation have a responsibility to be ethical beyond its employees and shareholders? Whenever this question has been asked in surveys, an overwhelming majority of people answer, “Yes!” Here’s what one corporate chairman said about ethics in a memo: “Employees of the Company are charged with conducting their business affairs in accordance with the highest ethical standards. An employee shall...

It’s easy to criticize reporters when they go too far, but what about the times when reporters are pressured to go farther… and they don’t. Charles Lewis founded the Center for Public Integrity after eleven years as an investigative reporter at ABC News and CBS News, as well as a producer for 60 Minutes. The following story comes from my...

It’s interesting to see the direction these commentaries take.  I never have a preconceived plan.  I go where the story and the ethical issue take me. In Monday’s post (June 10) I had strong feelings that “Vanity Fair” editor Todd Purdum’s use of anonymous sources to insinuate that former President Bill Clinton’s “…appearances of impropriety” on the road campaigning for...

“Why is it so hard for a man to see clearly beyond the letter of the law?” This deft piece of rationalization comes courtesy of Mr. Voysey, Sr. to his son, Edward, Jr. from a play by English dramatist Harley Granville Barker, edited by David Mamet. “The Voysey Inheritance” is a 103-year-old morality play that gives proof to the notion...

Growing up in the ’50s and ’60s citizenship was a practical part of daily life. I remember standing up, with the rest of my classroom, and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.  I remember the “proper” way to sit at my desk:  sit-up straight, hands folded, feet flat on the floor.  Be prompt, attentive, be studious, do not waste paper or...

There’s a moment near the end of the 1999 movie The Insider where Jeff Wigand is watching his whistle-blowing interview on 60 Minutes with his two daughters.  During the interview, one of his daughters looks over at him and slowly smiles. Between 1995 and 1996, Dr. Jeffrey Wigand lost his job, his house, his wife and for a time, his...

Matt Sanchez left Santa Barbara only twice – once when he joined the Marines, the other, when he went to prison. In 1987, as the leader of the Eastside Hoods, Matt called the heads of the area’s other twelve gangs together. After several shootings, he wanted to put an end to the violence. The peace treaty lasted for five years....