The Ethical Barometer

Michael Vick, who entered a guilty plea to federal charges related to a dogfighting enterprise,  got back into the NFL on a lick-and-a-promise.  Following his release from prison, the Philadelphia Eagles took on the quarterback  with the NFL’s imprimatur, provided he could live the clean life.  The promise was licked on Vick’s 30th birthday celebration in Virginia Beach.  Keeping company with one of the co-defendants in his dog-fighting case, the celebration somehow reached a point of exchanging gunfire.  Vick’s role remains unclear (more…)

In Comcast Corp. v. FCC, 2010 WL 1286658 (C.A.D.C.), the appellate court ruled that there was no statutory authority for the FCC to take over the Internet, a ruling that thwarted the plans of many to achieve “net neutrality.”  The FCC will not be annexing the Internet and all thanks to administrative law and the requirement that agencies base their actions within their enabling statutes.

A 27-year-old Qatari embassy worker decided to light up in the bathroom on a United Airlines flight from DC to Denver.  The nicotine fiend, upon being caught, had the good sense to make a joke about being a shoe bomber.  If we schlubs had behaved similarly, we would be somewhere in Gitmo with not even Eric Holder giving a hoot.  However, diplomatic immunity allowed the young man to walk.  Sometimes the law does not come close to ethics or personal responsibility.  The embassy responded, “He was certainly not engaged in any threatening activity.”  Yes, but how did the poor folks about the flight know that?

Phoebe Prince, an Irish immigrant attending South Hadley High School in Massachusetts, committed suicide on January 14, 2010 after a lengthy period of bullying by a clique of five popular students.   The five students are under indictment.  The community is torn apart.  The quote comes from a parent.  The outrage comes from the Barometer. Being caught up in a clique means wearing a Lance Armstrong “LIVE STRONG” yellow bracelet.  Succumbing to (more…)