From Chanhassen, Minn, an awful experience that is just the beginning—trust me on this. Yet our politicians don’t have the courage or integrity to do what has to be done to stop it.
A taste:
“Along Lake Susan and Chanhassen Hills drives, residents learned that something was terribly wrong in their homes Wednesday night when a geyser of sewage began spewing from toilets on the lower levels…”
Be very afraid. More than that, be angry. A must read.
She needs that 20%
Here’s why you need to tip, and generously: Waiters and waitresses are screwed if you don’t. Continue reading
Charlie Sheen, The Amazing Human Ethics Train Wreck
Up until yesterday, the message CBS and Warner Bros. had been sending to the culture by its handling of the ongoing Charlie Sheen embarrassment was this: you can break laws, try to strangle your wife, publicly betray multiple spouses, neglect your children, dive drunk, use illegal drugs, generally behave like a spoiled, anti-social ass without showing any remorse or contrition, and corporations will still pay you a million dollars a week and tell America you are a terrific guy as long as you keep making them big profits. Continue reading
The Society of Professional Journalists issued the following release condemning the Buffalo Beast’s fake call to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, in which the BB’s editor attempted, spectacularly unsuccessfully, to trick the Governor into making inflammatory or embarrassing statements. All he managed to do was to prove that Walker had never spoken to David Koch in his life, effectively debunking conspiracy theories that the Koch brothers were calling the shots in the Wisconsin public unions showdown. It was still a low point in recent journalism—quite an achievement, really—as the SPJ made clear: Continue reading
Dr. Mel Levine was found dead at his home last week, a suicide. His once successful and nationally prominent career as a pediatrician was derailed when he was sued by a succession of former patients who alleged that he sexually molested them. He had surrendered his medical license and teaching position at the University of North Carolina, and hardly any of the obituaries mentioned that he was once one of Oprah Winfrey’s health experts.
But writer Tracie Egan Morrissey remembered, and detected a pattern that is disturbing and real. There have been other experts and authorities that Oprah introduced to her trusting and huge audience of admirers that should have been rejected after competent vetting. Continue reading
The talk show guest was fuming. “It’s a power grab,” he said, referring to President Obama’s decision that his Justice Department would no longer defend legal attacks on the Defense of Marriage Act, because he regarded the federal ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. “Worse yet, it’s a violation of his oath to defend the law of the land!”
AHA! An ethical argument to go with the legal and political ones! Is Obama violating his oath, which would be a breach of his duties of loyalty, responsibility, honesty and integrity? Continue reading
Now if Cox came to work like this, I take it all back...
Indiana deputy attorney general Jeff Cox tweeted “use live ammunition” in response to a tweet by progressive magazine Mother Jones that riot police had been ordered to remove union supporters from the Wisconsin state Capitol in Madison. Mother Jones published the tweet as evidence of what it believes is the predominant conservative mindset, and the progressive blogosphere was soon using his tweet as a rallying cry.
Cox was fired Wednesday. Quite correctly, too.
Continue reading
Harry gave credit for HIS slam dunks!
My favorite Harry Truman quote, and one of my favorite quotes generally, is
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”
It is a fair assumption that Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin has never heard of it, or if he has, he has no idea what Harry was talking about.
The 2011 NBA Slam Dunk Contest over the weekend featured a spectacular dunk by Griffin, jumping over the hood of a car and slamming the ball through the hoop after it was fed to him, mid-air, through the sunroof. His contest winning dunk was a sensation, and Griffin can be expected to reap both publicity and dollars from it over and above his contest prize.
But fan Michael Scrivner is calling a foul on Griffin, telling the media that he gave the star the idea for the dunk and deserves some thanks and credit. And he is 100% right. Continue reading
Rep. Capuano says it's time...
Ethics Alarms has expanded its tutorial subject matter. We began by helping the satire and metaphor-challenged understand what does and didn’t constitute incivility ( putting Sarah Palin in a Victorian satirical song, no; calling Republicans Nazis, yes) and now will add the elusive concept of “hypocrisy” to the course list, for those, like Rush Limbaugh, who are confused about that as well.
Today’s lesson: Democratic Representative Michael Capuano of Somerville, Mass. When Arizona loon Jared Loughner killed a little girl, a judge, some other Arizonans, and grievously wounded Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Capuano was one of the Democrats who joined with some shameless voices in the media to suggest that the madman’s rampage was provoked by hot partisan rhetoric….specifically conservative rhetoric, since the victim was a Democrat. Continue reading
Diane, Diane..what were you thinking?
Last night’s episode of TV’s smartest legal drama since the 1960’s, CBS’s “The Good Wife,” dealt with the “no sex with clients” ethics rule adopted by most states (but not Washington, D.C.!) in a continuing subplot about the budding romance between firm tigress-partner Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski ) and ballistics expert Kurt McVeigh, played by Gary Cole. In the episode, entitled “Silver Bullet,” Lockhart decides to represent McVeigh when he is sued for millions.
That’s her first ethics mistake. Continue reading
Ethics Alarms 