Monthly Archives: October 2010
Accountability Follies: The B.C. Law Student’s Unethical Lament
An anonymous Boston College Law School student, soon to graduate, has requested a refund of his tuition because he is unemployed and sees no legal job in his immediate future. On a B.C. student website, he has posted an “open … Continue reading
Chevron, Environmentalists, Hoaxes, and the Ethics of Dialogue
Chevron’s new campaign represents a public commitment to ethical values; the fake campaign used to mock it represents unethical tactics, arrogance and hostility. In dueling public relations campaigns, the oil giant looks more trustworthy than the self-righteous protectors of the Earth. That’s quite an accomplishment…for both of them. Continue reading
Juan Williams, Revelations and the Phony NPR Ethics Code
We have learned a lot from the Juan Williams firing. Continue reading
Incompetence Follies: Fractured History For Virginia’s Fourth Graders
A history book used in 4th Grade in Virginia elementary schools, Our Virginia: Past and Present, teaches that thousands of African Americans fought for the South during the Civil War, a discredited claim often made by groups seeking to play down slavery’s role as a cause of the South’s rebellion. The author, Joy Masoff, who is not a trained historian, explained said she found the information about black Confederate soldiers through Internet research, and that her source was work by members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Continue reading
Juan Williams, Martyr to Tolerance
NPR has fired Juan Williams. Why? Continue reading
The Ethics Verdict on GQ’s “Glee” Spread: Ick
The watchdog group Parents Television Council is condemning the Gentleman’s Quarterly’s buzz-generating photo spread of actresses from “Glee”adopting sexually provocative poses more or less in character. Since their characters on the show are teenagers–minors—the Council equates the feature to pornography and pedophilia. Is it? Continue reading
Palin, Ifill, Contempt and Respect: A Cautionary Tale
At a recent speech, Palin warned Tea Partiers to avoid getting cocky, and not to “party like it’s 1773.” This provoked great hilarity among liberal partisans and pundits who, as you know, long ago told us that Palin was a moron. Continue reading
Christine O’Donnell’s Insult to Democracy
There is no need for Ethics Alarms to retell the whole, nauseating story: you can read plenty about O’Donnell’s foolishness here and here. I will just enumerate and summarize the ethical principles O’Donnell trashed (not counting her various misrepresentations about her credentials and misuse of campaign funds, that is). Continue reading
Filed under Citizenship, Government & Politics, History, Leadership, Professions
The Democrats’ Fake Tea Party Candidate
If Congressman Adler keeps his seat because of this tactic, the Democrats will have stolen it, as clearly as if they had stuffed the ballot box with the votes of the dead, as certainly as if they had thugs stopping Republicans from voting at polling places. The only difference is that there is no law that prohibits what DeStefano is doing. Continue reading
Filed under Citizenship, Government & Politics, Leadership, Professions, U.S. Society
