Clemens, Greed, the American Cheating Culture, and the Obama Era of Responsibility

Yes we are

Instilling ethics is not enough. It is also necessary to deter misconduct by making it less profitable. I follow "cheating" related to health claims, products, and services. One reason these thrive is that too many people profit from them, and too many people in positions of power are unwilling to do what is necessary to stop them. A few weeks ago I published a report on a phony urine test that is used to help scam hundreds of millions of dollars each year from unsuspecting victims. I then asked various agencies throughout the US to take simple steps to stop its use. It remains to be see whether any will do so. My report is at http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Tests/urine_toxic.html

Stephen Barrett, MD, Chapel Hill, NC

THE SITUATION IS MORE GRAY THAN BLACK OR WHITE

Our schools indoctrinate and program students with “revisionist history” and have replaced the idea of an objective and moral God with dogmatic, politically correct science. Subjective, cultural, societal and environmental agendas have polluted most curriculums.

Most students, beyond the age of 13, understand that 50% of what they’re being taught is A) of absolutely no benefit, or worse, B) is politically correct hogwash.

For example, imagine being in one of Bill Ayers or Ward Churchill’s classes in, “Hate America - Revisionist History”. Do we really care or even want children to do well under such brainwashing? Is it morally wrong to take any short cut possible in a class which twists truth and presents opinion as fact? Or, should we expect students to learn and propagate lies and distortions for the sake of conformity to progressive, artificial standards?

By the time they are in college most students realize that most of their courses, at least in part, are designed to program them and fulfill some sort of arbitrary criteria instigated by academics who have not or could not function in the “real world”... Higher education has been known as a “paper chase” for 40 years that I know of. Can we blame students for trying to run around some of these meaningless hurdles?

Moreover, government bureaucracy and politically motivated legislation has created a maze of often meaningless law and regulation - usually enforced by rigid bureaucrats with a “zero tolerance” mentality.

For instance, recently I was stopped by a police officer a few seconds after pulling away from the curb. He pointed out that my 15 year old son snapped his seat belt as my wheels moved from the curb and that it was a violation since he should have buckled it before my wheels moved. He wrote a ticket that carried a fine of more than $400.00. I went to court and beat it on a technicality, but should I have paid such a ridiculous citation? I was technically guilty of “endangering my child”, according to the “nanny-state”.

Should the protectors of Anne Frank ( or Elion Gonzales) have turned her over when the duly appointed legal authorities knocked on their door? What is wrong in the eyes of men is not always wrong to the eyes of God.

40 years ago a person who stopped a woman from aborting her baby would have been a hero - Today they’d be arrested for a hate crime and violating a woman’s civil rights. Conversely, someone who protected a runaway slave in 1860 was in violation of the law. What is evil to the universal will of God hasn’t changed, but it has for some men in some places- sometimes rightly and sometimes wrongly.

If the world were made up of objective men and just laws the lines would be more clearly drawn. But, perfect justice by the lights of man alone is not possible - The “rule of law” is made worthless by an “activist-progressive” judiciary and, as a result, society views many laws as malleable, or even without purpose.

And so, we have tangled ourselves in politically correct laws and

regulations - artificial and unrealistic criteria strangles true education, and we demand adherence to codes of conduct that have little to do with objective morality or honor.

I often tell people that one of the biggest problems we have today is that, “Andy retired and left Barney in charge.” You don’t think so? Well, just picture Nancy Peolsi’s puckered up face next to Barney Fife’s - man, they’re brother and sister. And, they’re in charge....

Greed

Mr. Z,

"What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility." While your article is compelling, how do Americans reconcile the fact that Tim Geithner, Presidnet Obama's pick for Treasury Secretary failed to pay his taxes (making him a tax cheat), until he was forced to?

Cathy MacCurtain

Boston, MA

And then what

Mr. Z,

"We must find a way to explain to kids how necessary it is to do the right thing and avoid what the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan called "defining deviancy down""

This is a timely clarion call. Now, who do we turn to for concrete steps? Steps for the education system, is the first one. But, who??

Also, what are the concrete ideas that we need to instill in our youth, to turn this ship around?

Fred Fong, San Francisco