June 25, 2011
Distrust of the President, and of the government in general, divides our society, emboldens our enemies, and diminishes the effectiveness of our Armed Forces. We owe our elected leaders more respect than that.
President Obama’s Afghanistan drawdown announcement has drawn fire from the left and from the right. He was pilloried on Fox News, on MSNBC, and on CNN, and even ridiculed on The Daily Show after he announced that the U.S. would withdraw 10,000 troops by the end of 2011, another 23,000 by “next summer,” with continuing reductions through 2014.
To the right, the President is recklessly ignoring the advice of his military professionals who know what’s needed. To the left, he’s mindlessly sticking to a hopeless and pointless strategy. To both sides he’s sacrificed principle for politics.
But has he? Is there any chance that his decision was based on what he thought best? If we Americans trusted him we’d give him that much. But we don’t, at least not much: the latest Gallup poll says that just 35% of Americans say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the Presidency; 36% have very little confidence or none at all.
But we do trust the military: 78% of us say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence. I’d guess the numbers are even higher on the right. But what happens when the military supports the President? Ah, then it’s a different story. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Afghanistan drawdown, Bob Woodward, CNN, confidence in the military, confidence in the Presidency, Distrust, ethics, Fox News, Gallup poll, Joint Chiefs of Staff, military advice, MSNBC, Mullen, national security, Obama, Obama’s Wars, Petraeus, politics, risk, strategy, The Daily Show
Posted in Ethics-general, Government, International, military | 2 Comments »
June 20, 2011
The greatest ethics challenge that most of us face is speaking truth to power. When our boss, or our spouse, or our good friend, says or does something that we disagree with we’re too often reluctant to object. At work we may fear the boss’s wrath; in our private life we may fear the loss of a friend.
We should take heart from the life of Yelena Bonner, who died Saturday in Boston after a long hospitalization. Many people think Ronald Reagan brought down the Soviet Union: you could just as well argue that Yelena Bonner did.
Bonner relentlessly fought a one-woman battle against the Evil Empire, perhaps the strongest and most ruthless dictatorship the world has ever known. She had every reason to be fearful of its might: it executed her father and imprisoned her mother as enemies of the state when she was 14. Her own children were driven out of the country by state pressure and KGB threats. As a Jew in fiercely anti-Semitic Russia she had special reason to fear the state. But somehow she made the state fear her.
She was a founder and the personification of the Soviet human rights movement. In 1972 she married Andrei Sakharov, father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb-turned human rights activist.
When Sakharov was awarded the Nobel peace prize for his advocacy of human rights the regime forbade him to travel to accept his award; Bonner, in Italy for medical treatment, risked the regime’s wrath Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: 1991 goup attempt, Andrei Sakharov, anti-Semitism, Boris Yeltsin, ethics, ethics challenge, Ethics Hero, Evil Empire, genocide of the Chechen people, Gorbachev, Helsinki Accord, human rights, Moscow Helsinki Group, Nobel Peace Prize, Putin, Ronald Reagan, Russia, Soviet Union, speaking truth to power, Yelena Bonner
Posted in Ethics-general, Government, International, Tolerance | Leave a Comment »
June 19, 2011
Sports fans who try to live an ethical life are often pulled in two directions by their favorites. What Dodger fan could, with a clear conscience, pull for drug-cheat Manny Ramirez to hit one out of the park? And what Redskins fan could root for Albert Haynesworth to sack the opposing quarterback, after the 300-pound tackle stomped on an opposing player’s face with his football cleats.? And what fans of the Vancouver Canucks or L.A. Lakers could go on feeling good rooting for their teams after ugly displays of pure brutality?
Well, all of us do, even though we know we’re rooting for deeply flawed individuals.
But then a new hero comes along with a dazzling smile, so apparently pure and strong of character that we fall in love again. So it is with Rory McIlroy, winner today of golf’s U.S. Open by an unheard of eight strokes with a record low Open score of 268. At 22, McIlroy is the youngest Open winner since the legendary Bobby Jones won in 1923 at age 21.
After earning praise here for an extraordinary display of grace and sportsmanship after his game collapsed in the last round of the Masters—as it had in last year’s British Open—McIlroy exorcised his inner demons and Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Albert Haynesworth, Bobby Jones, British Open, brutality, Dodger fans, ethics, Haiti, Lakers, Manny Ramirez, Masters, Redskins fans, Rory McIlroy, sports fans, sportsmanship, U.S. Open, UNICEF, Vancouver Canucks
Posted in Ethics-general, Sports | Leave a Comment »
June 17, 2011
Sport is often depressing. We were depressed Monday when Vancouverites rioted after their thuggish Canucks lost the National Hockey League championship to the Boston Bruins. We were depressed last month when the Los Angeles Lakers degenerated into dirty play as they were swept in four games by the Dallas Mavericks. And we were depressed by the news that Ohio State’s All-American quarterback Terrelle Pryor and super coach Jim Tressel were long-time cheaters.
But sport is more often elevating, as when tennis star Andy Roddick corrected an umpire’s wrong call to his own disadvantage and it wound up costing him a championship, or when 22-year old Rory McIlroy gave everybody a lesson in grace and sportsmanship after his game totally disintegrated as he was on the verge of claiming one of golf’s major prizes, the Masters Green Jacket.
So I was delighted to read in this morning’s paper that McIlroy had a three stroke lead after the first round of golfdom’s #1 prize, the 111th U.S. Open. As I sat down to blog about this exemplar of ethics in sport, Google popped up with this breaking news from Reuters that McIlroy had holed out his approach shot on the par-four eighth hole for a rare eagle to go 10 under par, the earliest any player had ever reached 10-under in the Open. Ethics fans hope he keeps it up this time.
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Tags: Andy Roddick, Boston Bruins, Buckeyes, Canucks, Dallas Mavericks, eagle, ethics, Green Jacket, hockey riot, Jim Tressel, Los Angeles Lakers, Masters, National Hockey League, Ohio State, Rory McIlroy, sportsmanship, Terrelle Pryor, U.S. Open, Vancouver
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
June 16, 2011
America’s public schools are the engine of America’s greatness. From the 1880s on they turned a flood of children of immigrants—most of them poor, illiterate, and speaking no English—into patriotic successful citizens, prepared for college or for a productive life without college. They laid the foundation for America’s productive might, innovative genius and entrepreneurial spirit.
Now they are failing. Big time. In Los Angeles, for example, only half of the students graduate, and of those who do, fewer that 30 per cent are ready for college, according to Los Angeles mayor Anthony Villaraigosa’s op-ed piece in today’s Los Angeles Times. And the story is similar all over America. In our cities it seems that the thing the schools are best at is preparing boys for prison and girls for single motherhood.
Last night I saw a wonderful documentary, Waiting for Superman. It documents not just the schools’ failure but also the kids’ ability to learn—to excel—when given good teaching. The movie makes vivid the burning of poor, uneducated parents to give their children a better chance, the conviction of some reformers and philanthropists that things could be better, and the cost in dollars and ruined lives of bad teachers.
The movie will stoke your anger at all the people who are allowing this tragedy to continue, and at the politicians who could do something and who don’t.
Watch the trailer.
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Tags: Anthony Villaraigosa, ethics, good teaching, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times, prison, public schools, single motherhood, Waiting for Superman
Posted in Education, Politics | Leave a Comment »
June 15, 2011
It feels awkward to praise in an ethics column somebody for showing simple decency, but considering today’s Republican candidates, simple decency is nothing to sneeze at.
So hooray for Mitt Romney for standing up for the rights of American Muslims. Romney dismissed the idea that Sharia law could ever be applied in American courts (“We have a Constitution”), and rejected Herman Cain’s position that Muslims should be singled out and treated differently (“We treat people with respect regardless of their religious persuasion.”)
By contrast, Cain and Newt Gingrich made it clear that they would be very reluctant to have any Muslims serve under them. The other participants, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul didn’t comment in the debate.
Bachmann has in the past shown suspicion toward American Muslims, while Santorum has stated that he considers Muslims to be as good American citizens as anybody. Paul has been downright heroic on this issue, blasting those in the conservative movement who use “hatred against Muslims to rally support.”
On another subject Paul earned praise from Ethics Alarms for his ethical and libertarian position on the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. He was the only candidate to reject the policy.
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Tags: American Muslims, Constitution, decency, Don’t ask, don’t tell, ethics, Ethics Alarms, GOP debate, Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Republican candidates, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Sharia
Posted in Ethics-general, Government, Politics, Religion, Tolerance | Leave a Comment »
June 14, 2011
Soccer, aka futbol, aka futebol, aka football, is also known as the beautiful game. It’s the closest thing there is to a universal sport, played in over 200 countries. It’s championship game, the World Cup final, player every four years, draws a television audience of over one billion, according to FIFA, the international governing body.
FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) rules soccer internationally. And corruptly: its board is rife with bribery, which is apparently why it awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, where summer temperatures reach over 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
And it rules arbitrarily, inconsistently, and ugly, as when last week it disqualified the Iran women’s team for wearing head scarves to their match with Jordan. Why? Because head scarves were dangerous. Don’t you know, they’re a choking hazard. As a result Iran won’t have a chance to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London.
The issue has come up before, and FIFA reversed an earlier ruling against head scarves Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: 2012 Olympics, beautiful game, bribery, choking, choking hazard, ethics, FIFA, football, futbol, futebol, head scarves, Iran, Iran women’s team, Jordan, Qatar, soccer, universal sport, World Cup
Posted in Ethics-general, International, Sports, Tolerance | Leave a Comment »
June 12, 2011
Turks went to the polls today in numbers that should make Americans blush: 44 million of 50 million registered voters, or 88 per cent.
The results should get two cheers from American friends of Turkey. The victory of the Justice and Development (AK) party was a foregone conclusion. AK got 49.9% of the vote and 325 seats, losing eleven seats from the current level.
But the critical issue for Turkey is what happens to the Turkish constitution, which was written by the Army after the 1982 military coup. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is committed to writing a new constitution. He hoped to capture two-thirds, or 367, of the seats in parliament, which would have allowed his party to write the new constitution by itself. Failing that he hoped for three-fifths, or 330, of the seats, which would have allowed the same unilateral drafting of a new constitution but subject to a popular referendum (which he would have been heavily favored to win). But on Sunday AK fell a little short of even the 330 threshold.
This matters for two reasons. First, AK is an Islamist party, and while many Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: AK party, American friends of Turkey, democracy, Erdogan, imprisoning journalists, Islamist party, Justice and Development party, military coup, parliament, press freedom, Turkish constitution, Turkish election
Posted in Government, International, Religion | 2 Comments »
June 11, 2011
When my car won’t start I’m an innocent. I always guess it’s the battery, and usually I’m right, but that’s the extent of my automotive knowledge. So when the Brent Air Towing /AAA truck answered my call this morning I was prepared to shell out $100 to $150 for a new battery.
Brent’s serviceman, Adolfo Jimenez, lifted the hood, looked intently at the battery, then gave me a quick and easy jump start. To my surprise and relief he told me I didn’t need a new battery, just run the engine until the battery was recharged.
I thanked him and told him how relieved I was not to need a new battery. His response:
“I could have told you you needed a battery, and you wouldn’t have known any different, but that wouldn’t be right. I’ve always tried to be professional and have ethics, whether training horses or mopping floors or rescuing stranded drivers.
“The important thing in life is to be happy. You can be happy with one dollar, or you can be unhappy with a million dollars.
“If you’re ethical, and if your children see you’re ethical they don’t say, ‘I want to be like Batman or Superman.’ They say ‘I want to be like dad.’ That’s happiness.”
Thanks for the lesson, Adolfo. I’ll use it in my next business ethics class.
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Tags: AAA, Brent Air Towing, Business ethics, ethics Adolfo Jimenez, happiness, professionalism
Posted in Business ethics, Ethics-general | Leave a Comment »
June 9, 2011
If you’re a Democrat and you want an ethics pass, go see Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Today she discussed the Anthony Weiner mess with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell. Her analysis:
“It’s hard to see what the [House] Ethics Committee would hang its hat on here to say that this conduct would violate the ethics rules. Others have said maybe it’s the lying. What! So no politician has ever lied to us before? That’s the kind of thing we see all the time. So he did behave discreditably (!!) but I don’t think it’s enough for a full fledged ethics censure. David Vitter is still there.”
I wonder what kind of behavior Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington would consider irresponsible or unethical.
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Tags: Anthony Weiner, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, CREW, David Vitter, ethics, House Ethics Committee, Lawrence O’Donnell, lying, Melanie Sloan
Posted in Ethics-general, Government, Media | 1 Comment »
Distrust of the President, and of the government in general, divides our society, emboldens our enemies, and diminishes the effectiveness of our Armed Forces. We owe our elected leaders more respect than that.
Ethics Bob 