Category: Ethics in Government

By Posted on Posted in Ethics in Government, Politics, Uncategorized
  • Good summary of all the race-baiting, commie-baiting, Muslim-baiting McCarthyistic crap coming out of many corners of the McCain campaign, most of it apparently condoned by both McCain and Palin: at least 13 separate incidents, including some real nasties, like the woman who made up the story that she was mugged and disfigured for supporting McCain and the robocalls to Jewish voters in Pennsylvania warning of another holocaust if Obama is elected (that one actually did get disavowed, but McCain personally endorsed a sleazy brochure that tried to tie Obama to 9/11). And several more dirty tricks, many targeting black voters, listed here.
  • Front-page story in The Times of London (owned by Rupert Murdoch, but still a reputable paper) has several Vietnamese involved in McCain’s capture/rescue and imprisonment denying that he was ever tortured–in separate interviews. American mainstream media has apparently been ignoring this story, and I’m not convinced it’s true, but you’d think the press would want to investigate, since the torture story has been the basis for his entire career. The closest I could find to corroboration was this anonymous report that claims to be from a fellow POW

    • According to a fellow POW, John McCain sustained some injures after ejecting over North Vietnam, but was never tortured or mistreated. Speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of what the new Republican Nazi Party might do to him and his family, he said, “Hell, they didn’t have to torture McCain. He talked incessantly. We didn’t nickname him “Songbird” because he was cute or had a pleasant voice…”

    I’ve known McCain for years and while he’s a lot of things, a straight talker he is not. Even though I was shot down twice in Vietnam, I wasn’t captured. The records show that most pilots did their very best to avoid being captured, and those who were, carried out their orders according the United States Military Code of Conduct, especially Article III. There is no record of John McCain trying to escape or aiding others in their attempt to escape. I also know that like me, McCain is one sick old man. He’s eaten up with PTSD and hate, and it’s not the North Vietnamese, North Koreans or even the Taliban he hates. He hates Americans for leaving him to rot in a POW camp. Evidently, the Pentagon didn’t believe McCain warranted being rescued to the degree that McCain believed.

  • McCain’s hypocrisy shows up on just about every issue. As one example, how about John McCain pushing Reagan to meet with terrorists without preconditions.

    In 1987, John McCain cast several votes in an attempt to force the Reagan administration to meet with RENAMO1, a guerrilla organization in Mozambique that State Department officials at the time described as a “terrorist group,” 2 without requiring that the group meet any preconditions.

    Oh, and how about Palin’s ties to a terrorist separatist group in Alaska–much less tenuous than Obama’s ties to Ayers?

  • The ridiculous and desperate attempt to pin vote fraud charges on Acorn, and by implication, Obama–while the Republicans continue the biggest disenfranchisement campaign in US history

    This is only the tip of the iceberg. I could chronicle this stuff all night. “Mr. Straight Talk” has some serious explaining–and apologizing–to do.

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    By Posted on Posted in Ethics in Government

    Outrageous! Sarah Palin thinks putting her daughters up at the Ritz-Carlton, in their own room (one room for two daughters), is an appropriate use of taxpayer money! A different time, when she shared a $709.29 per night hotel room overlooking New York’s Central Park for four nights.

    Another time she stayed five nights in order to give a single one-time speech. Associated Press reports repeated use of state money to fly her kids around on questionable “state business.”

    Here’s another incident mentioned in the AP story (and there are many others):

    a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.

    This is the “maverick:” and “reformer” who stands for ethics? Yech!

    Oh, yes, and she lied to say they were on official business.

    I can smell the stench all the way in Massachusetts, 5000 miles away.

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    By Posted on Posted in Ethics in Government, Politics

    Dear American people:

    These are some names I’d love to see in the next President’s Cabinet. Who are your choices? Do you know visionary thinkers, with strong Green, ethical, and social justice credentials, who are also good administrators? Add your choices (or echo mine) in the comment section. (And speaking of ethics…Obama’s transition team has an excellent ethics mandate that is a welcome change from the corruption of the last couple of administrations–I expect to blog about it in detail when I get a chance.) Meanwhile, here’s what I’d suggest to Senator Obama, who might actually listen.

    Dear Senator Obama,

    On the strength of your call for change, your overall vision, your coolness under fire, and lots of other reasons–you are likely to become the next President of the United States. Here are some people who can really implement that change we will elect you to bring.

    Secretary of State
    Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations. (I could find nothing requiring that Cabinet Secretaries have to be U.S. citizens.)

    Secretary of the Treasury
    Hazel Henderson, futurist, ethicist, and Green economist. Alternative: Paul Krugman, Nobel Laureate and NY Times columnist.

    Secretary of Defense
    Gene Sharp, America’s foremost researcher on nonviolent alternatives to military–shifting the focus to actually defending the country. Alternate: Cindy Sheehan.

    Attorney General
    Michael Ratner, head of the Center for Constitutional Rights and one of the leading lawyers defending against the radical right-wing abrogation of rights at Guantanamo and elsewhere.

    Secretary of the Interior
    Winona LaDuke, Native American (Ojibwe) and environmental activist, extremely smart. Nader’s running mate in 2000.

    Secretary of Agriculture
    Annie Cheatham, former director of Communities Involved in Sustainable Agriculture in Deerfield, Massachusetts, one of the most successful community organizations nationwide in promoting local, sustainable farming, and one that grew enormously during her tenure.

    Secretary of Commerce
    Judy Wicks, restaurant owner and founder of Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, a national group working to support local business.

    Secretary of Labor
    Alisa Gravitz, Executive Director of Coop America/Green America.

    Secretary of Health and Human Services
    Cynthia McKinney, former member of Congress from Georgia, strong crusader for the rights of poor people, for an economy based on peace and sustainability.

    Secretary of Homeland Security
    Juan Gonzalez, Pulitzer and Polk-winning investigative journalist, co-host of the award-winning news and public affairs show Democracy Now, New York Post reporter, former Visiting Professor in Public Policy and Administration at Brooklyn College, and former president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, author of three books including one on the aftermath of the World Trade Center attack, who has covered both terrorism and police issues for many years. Alternate: Richard Clarke, former security advisor to President Bush.

    Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
    Ron Dellums, long-time Congressman and Mayor from Oakland, CA. Alternate: Rev. Jesse Jackson.

    Secretary of Transportation
    A mass transit advocate willing to learn from the amazing example of Curitiba, Brazil, which created a bus system as efficient as any train system, at a fraction of the cost.

    Secretary of Energy
    Amory Lovins, energy visionary who understands not only the need to convert to renewable, nonpolluting resources, but the need to do it in ways that come out of abundance and not deprivation–that actually increase business profitability AND quality of life. Has been on the forefront of this movement since at least 1975.

    Secretary of Education
    Senator Hillary Clinton: Smart, aggressive, and a long-time leader on education.

    Secretary of Veterans Affairs
    Michael T. McPhearson, Executive Director of Veterans for Peace.

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    By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, Business Ethics, Ethics in Government

    Guest Blog By Lauren Bloom

    [Note from Shel: Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday of atonement and forgiveness, starts tonight, and I’m pleased to post this timely commentary on the economy, forgiveness, and Yom Kippur from my new friend Lauren Bloom]

    This week marks the observance of Yom Kippur, or the “Day of Atonement,” the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Yom Kippur offers practicing Jews the opportunity to request and receive forgiveness for their mistakes and broken promises throughout the year. It’s a lovely tradition, and one that recognizes a fundamental fact about each and every one of us: We all make mistakes and, when we do, we need to apologize for them.

    Just this week, we’ve seen what colossal damage corporate greed and dishonesty can do. As Shel Horowitz observed in this blog less than a month ago, the financial crisis gripping America could have been avoided if Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and other investment banks had followed common sense ethical principles. But because they let avarice overcome their good sense, American taxpayers are out $700 billion that may never be recovered, thousands of people have lost their jobs, retirees have watched their pension assets dwindle, the credit markets have dried up, homeowners across the country are facing foreclosure, and there’s no end to the crisis in sight. Somebody – the greedy financiers who created this disaster, the regulators who let them get away with it, the corporate Boards who failed to ask tough questions -– owes the rest of us a huge apology.

    When a mistake is this enormous it can be tempting to say that an apology wouldn’t do any good, but nothing could be further from the truth. The bigger the mistake, the more an apology becomes a necessary first step toward healing. This week of Yom Kippur offers a wonderful opportunity for everyone who contributed to the financial crisis, regardless of their religious affiliation, to step forward and ask the American people for forgiveness.

    Thank you, Shel, for the opportunity to guest on The Good Business Blog.

    Lauren Bloom is an attorney who speaks and consults on business ethics and the author of The Art of the Apology – How to Apologize Effectively to Practically Anyone. Visit Lauren online at www.businessethicsspeaker.com and www.artoftheapology.com.

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    By Posted on Posted in Ethics in Government, Politics

    These two items from the Center for Media and Democracy may leave a real strong “eeeewww!” taste in your mouth. At least they did for me:

    1. The US Food and Drug Administration let an industry front group do its new consumer-information website–and the front group calls the effort “EthicAd”

    2. A supposed poll was actually designed to spread very negative lies within the Jewish community about Obama, according to Politico.com. You’d think McCain, having been targeted by similar disgusting tactics in the 2000 election, would have killed this effort by the “Republican Jewish Coalition.”

    Aren’t we better than this? Yuck!

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    By Posted on Posted in Ethics in Government, Social and Economic Justice

    Apparently there’s a serious proposal on the table to limit public access to Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day, and sell space to the highest bidders as corporate sponsors. This is what I wrote on the comment page:

    The First Amendment is part of what makes America great. Taking away the right to assemble at the Presidential inauguration is a bad idea, and selling off to the highest bidder is just plain un-American. This is part of our heritage–to watch, and perhaps to p0eacefully protest.

    As a business owner, a writer, and a concerned citizen, I urge you to maintain Pennsylvania Avenue for all citizens who wish to see the inaugural.

    Deadline for comments is Monday. Make yourself heard.

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    By Posted on Posted in Ethics in Government, Media Ethics, Politics, Web 2.0/Social Media

    A certain popular website, that I will not name or link to, posted a bunch of Sarah Palin’s government-related e-mails posted through private, non-government, non-archived accounts.

    This is, to put it mildly, not according to Hoyle, and especially because there was even a conversation about how to keep prying eyes away from these posts by using “private” email.

    Of course, as Palin found out, e-mail is never really private. It’s not a secure medium. It’s also not particularly reliable. and you shouldn’t expect to have any privacy.

    However…while Palin had absolutely no right to conduct state business over non-government e-mail–and certainly no right to delete the emails and the account and thus destroy evidence of possible wrongdoing in the Troopergate scandal, I have just as big an ethical bone to pick with the site that unmasked her.: it listed the emails of her correspondents, in big print, and in hackable form.

    I’m sorry, but it is not anybody’s right to have the personal e-mails of her kids and others who corresponded with Sarah Palin. These people will have to go through a lot of time and trouble to change their addresses, notify correspondents, etc.

    Palin was wrong. But so was this website.

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    By Posted on Posted in Ethics in Government, Politics

    So Obama used the phrase “lipstick on a pig.” He’s used it before and so has McCain, according to this morning’s NPR news report. In fact, they both used it long before Palin was on the scene.
    It’s old and tired and clichéd, and Obama can do better. But if McCain’s people think this is an attack on Sarah Palin, let it be noted that this infers that McCain’s people, and not Obama, are the ones who think Palin is a pig.

    Yet the same camp that wants to pretend Obama called Palin a pig has no shame about a really horrible distortion in a McCain-approved ad–that tries to paint Obama as teaching sex to kindergarteners because he supported a measure to help children distinguish between proper and improper touching–a measure that can actually reduce pederasty and help bring pedophiles to justice.

    And that is truly vile. Oh yeah, wasn’t McCain the “maverick” who stood for ethics?

    Karl Rove may be proud. But I am disgusted.

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    By Posted on Posted in Ethics in Government, Media Ethics, Social and Economic Justice

    These people have no shame! The Central Intelligence Agency actually had a table on the exhibition floor of Unity ’08, the conference for journalists of color organized jointly by (in alphabetical order) the Asian-American Journalists Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Native-American Journalists Association!

    As the article points out, this is not an appropriate place for journalists to work. Here are two of the people interviewed on the segment:

    JOE DAVIDSON: I don’t think that the CIA should recruit at conventions for journalists. I think that CIA members have pretended to be journalists in years past. They might still be doing it, I don’t know, but they certainly have done it previously. And I think that the knowledge that CIA agents have used journalism as a cover puts legitimate journalists in danger.

    It’s certainly known that in other countries, journalists will report to their governments. That certainly is not the case, or certainly generally has not been the case, for American journalists. But we don’t want that perception. I think there really has to be a long distance between the role of a spy, even someone who does research in Langley, Virginia, and a journalist.

    and

    DENNIS MOYNIHAN: You know, in a climate where journalists are being laid of en masse by the media corporations, I think it’s unfortunate that an agency like the CIA can prey upon people. I mean, what are they going to be doing? Of course, they’re talking about open source intelligence gathering.

    Well, that’s exactly how they gather names of alleged socialists or labor sympathizers in Indonesia, by forming lists. They’re going to be reading other reporters’ work and identifying subjects of interest to the U.S. security apparatus. I don’t think it’s good work for a journalist. There’s just a massive abuse of data collection that’s happening by the United States, principally.

    The ACLU released a press report, a press release about waterboarding and CIA’s involvement in authorizing and coaching waterboarding. You know, why isn’t this guy being asked about it? I think some journalists here actually have confronted this recruiter, but this is one of the most controversial agencies functioning on the planet today, and it’s shocking that here, with between five and ten thousand journalists, and the guy isn’t getting grilled continually.

    Several other attenders also comment. Go read or listen to the whole segment.

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