Ethics Quotes

Ethics Quote of the Week

/ Jack Marshall / 3 Comments

“Edwards, who wore expensive Italian suits, had panicked prior to a debate in front of an American union group. The label inside his jacket read “Made in Italy.” Sensing he might be about to step in a political cow pie if one of the unionists inquired, he asked Young about the label inside his own suit jacket. Young’s read “Made in the USA.” Edwards ordered Young to immediately take both jackets to a tailor and switch the labels. Later Edwards played back a videotape of the debate and complained to Young about how his suit appeared to be wrinkled where the labels had undergone the old switcheroo.”

————– Former John Edwards aide Andrew Young in his soon-to-be-released  book, The Politician

There are those who argue that small deceptions like this are meaningless. They are wrong. Continue reading →

Ethics Quote of the Week

/ Jack Marshall / Leave a comment

“Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard, and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”

—-Former “Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien, bidding farewell in his final show. O’Brien was shabbily treated by NBC, beginning with its bait-and-switch game that kept him behind Jay Leno even after his “promotion” to the prestige late night show,  and ending with its making him the scapegoat of a ratings  debacle entirely caused by the cheap and incompetent management of the NBC brass. Conan still managed to preserve his dignity and integrity while keeping his justified anger in control, and exited “Tonight” as gracefully as humanly possible.

Ethics Quote of the Week

/ Jack Marshall / 2 Comments

“A lot of our folks have second and third homes and alimony payments and other obligations that require substantial current cash.”

—-A banker quoted anonymously by Stephen Brill in his essay, “What’s a Bailed-Out Banker Worth?” in the Jan.3  New York Times Magazine. The article discusses that financial industry’s rationale (or rationalizations) for its compensation culture.

Ethics Quote of the Week

/ Jack Marshall / 2 Comments

“Nice try, Ted Alvin Klaudt, of Walker, S.D.”

The South Dakota Daily Republic, in an editorial commenting on former state lawmaker Ted Klaudt’s warning to South Dakota’s media this week that they cannot use his name without his prior authorization.

Klaudt claimed that he name was protected by his recent copyright of it, a transparent attempt to avoid news media mention of Klaudt’s 2007 sentencing to 44 years in prison for four counts of second-degree rape. The ex-legislator was convicted of touching the breasts and genitals of his two foster daughters while conducting phony examinations on the girls on the premise that he would help them sell their reproductive eggs.

He apparently wants to have the sole legal right to call such conduct “Klaudting.”

Ethics Alarms salutes the Daily Republic for having the courage and wit to immediately challenge Klaudt’s efforts to muzzle the press.

Ethics Quote of the Week

/ Jack Marshall / 4 Comments

“If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.”

—- Google CEO Eric Schmidt to CNBC interviewer Maria Bartiromo

Bingo!

Ethics Quote of the Week

/ Jack Marshall / 1 Comment

“Ms. Hanes was awarded the position based solely on her merit.”

—– Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Montana) spokesman Tyler Matsdorf, “explaining” that although the Senator’s  state office director, Melodee Hanes, and Baucus were in the midst of a year-long romantic affair when the Senator submitted her name to President Obama as a candidate  to be appointed U.S. attorney in Montana, the nomination was completely unrelated to the relationship.

Well.

This clearly calls for..

An Ethics Alarm Pop Quiz! Continue reading →

Justice for the Serenity Prayer’s Author

/ Jack Marshall / 5 Comments

“God, grant me the serenity to accept what I can not change, the courage to change what I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

This is the Serenity Prayer. Few combinations of twenty-six words have altered more lives for the better: it is the credo of Alcoholics Anonymous, and the foundation of the famed “Twelve Steps” developed by Bill Wilson to arm the victims of alcoholism for a lifetime battle for sobriety. Thanks to an academic controversy, the author of the prayer may finally get the credit he deserved all along. Continue reading →

Ethics Quote of the Week

/ Jack Marshall / Leave a comment

“People seem to listen to you more when you’ve got a bagful of cash.”   Thomas J. Donohue, president of The U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  From a story in The New York Times, noted by City Ethics.

Throughout his career, Donohue has demonstrated a talent for distilling fact, wisdom, irony and humor into plain-speaking quips. My all-time favorite:  “Sometimes I don’t know what I think until I hear what I have to say.”

Ethics Quote of the Week

/ Jack Marshall / 1 Comment

“”Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be Kanye,” they sang. “Let them pick guitars and drive them old trucks, ’cause cowboys have manners,they don’t interrupt..”  

Country Music Award show hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood,  in a parody of the song, “Mamas, Don’t Let Your Children Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” giving a much-deserved shot to rapper Kanye West for disrupting  Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV awards.  Swift also was  a big winner at the CMA’s, but West was nowhere to be seen.