One of the things I like about this hobby and the folks in it is our willingness to continually consider and ponder ethics as a basic tool in our journey through life. (Phew! Heavy man! ) Seems like we endlessly pose ethical questions here to our great benefit. Little things like S&H to important person-to-person issues are in the daily mix of posts. Was checking the local blog of a tax law professor this morning and he pointed out an ethics program that the I.R.S. (!!!!) was using and posted a link from the program about rationalizations: http://www.josephsoninstitute.org/MED/MED-5rationalizations.htm

One that struck me -

The False Necessity Trap

As Nietzsche put it, "Necessity is an interpretation, not a fact." We tend to fall into the "false necessity trap" because we overestimate the cost of doing the right thing and underestimate the cost of failing to do so.

Hmmm, altered chips, anyone? Be sure to look at the "The Six Pillars of Character" also. Interesting stuff and pretty descriptive of what I find in chip collectors.

Check out the blog entry under "Ethics Problem In Salem" Saturday Nov. 19 at http://bojack.org/index.shtml It concerns a truley bizare situation that is ongoing in Oregon. "Things Are Different Here." ($$$State PR campaign $$$ ) Seems a state Representative by the name of Kelly Wirth was feeling pressure to maintain "SuperMom" status and was indulging in some Mothers Little Helper. One evening as Wirth was getting into her car, she was run down by an auto driven by the girlfriend of the hunky young Latino state capital janitor with whom the elected sparkplug was having an affair. Officers found meth in the Reps car and finally managed to arrest her for it after a week or so. Wirth also voted against more severe penalties for meth crimes and was also doing frisky private interviews with a TV reporter on the capital beat! I guess there are journalistic ethics because he got fired out of the deal. The janitor got a years pay to leave his employ with the state. Cool. When Democratic leadership finally persuaded Shipwreck Kelly to resign it became apparent that she'd raised the pay of all her office staff that included her mother and some friends in an attempt to drain her office budget. Well, guess what friends... turns out that more than a few fellow legislators also gift taxpayers with the paid sevices of their spouses, relatives and friends. Which leads my blogger to his ethics post.

Shooter trying to concentrate on his ethics problem in Cincinnati Kid.