It is sad to see that the Obama Administration is already violating the majority of these excellent guidelines.

I always enjoy your insightful columns and encourage you to evaluate the message the legislators will be sending to taxpayers and our youth if they approve the nomination of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner after he admitted underpaying his taxes for four years. He is clearly a highly qualified candidate, but the scope of his tax indiscretions is a very troubling fact for the proposed head of the IRS.

This is not a partisan issue but has everything to do with holding public servants and others to reasonable ethical standards -- regardless of party affiliation or social status.

As you consistently stress, we need to reverse the popular view that celebrities, the rich, and other high-profile people should be given more slack on ethics because they are too busy or too important to bother with such "trivial" matters. The fact is, these ethics violators generally believe they are above the law.

No one is smarter than their criteria.

Though the election is over, Gov. Sarah is being attacked by the leftist-humanists because they fear her reappearance on a future ballot. They are afraid and rightly so! She is a perceptive, excellent candidate to represent the Founders' principles and our American way of life with intelligent courage.

Additionally, since no one is smarter than their criteria, the collectivists are working from a pre-chosen mediocre (and worse) set of man-made carnal-ruled opinions that limit perception of consequences-of-choice prior to choosing. In other words, they lack vision. Based on a universe-sized ignorance, such devices are self-imposed. Thus, the lefties can accurately and historically be defined as unwise.

On the other hand, Sarah and her chosen criteria, which is far superior to any man-made system of opinion, reasonably scares those who possess no practicing standard greater than mediocrity. Their collectivist opinion rises no higher than eyebrows - or belly button.

Sarah lives life governed by God's superior transcendent principles as found in the Holy Bible. Judeo-Christian principles are the founding precepts of the greatest nation in human history -- America -- Including, but not limited to, human-defined, earth's choicemaker, unique individual value, personal rights and responsibility, and representative government. The creative process is a choice-making process and functions best in freedom.

(5th grade lesson: God-made social criteria cannot be topped. All man-made social opinion has a ceiling!)

(6th grade lesson: Every IQ test is a test of one's ability to make choices.)

Sarah is recognized by friends and admirers as a worthy representative of all that is wonderful about America. 2012 will be here shortly. Keep your eye on this courageous intelligent leader -- and pray!

Happy 2009 AD....the Season of Generation-Choicemaker Joel 3:14 Psalm 25:12

I used to be a teenager. Today? 84!

I agree with Mr. Baxter about Sarah Palin. What will be interesting is to see if she even wants to run in 2012 after she realizes how Mr. Obama and his Cabinet have destroyed what our forefathers have worked so hard to build. It's happening right before our very eyes, and I for one am at a loss as to what we, as the citizens of the United States of America, can even do about it, except like Sarah, pray for America and that God guides the leaders of this country to do what is right and not what is popular or in their best interests. God bless America!

I think these comments are racist. After all Americans have gone through in the past eight years, we should be glad to have a fresh person to take on the mess Bush left behind. Give the new president a chance to prove himself before you start blasting his tactics. I live in the South and have really gotten a chance to see and hear peoples' true beliefs about people of color. I'm disappointed with some of the comments.
Yet, watching the inauguration, America as a whole seems to be proud to reach this plateau in history.
Obama has:
Integrity; he will work to know his stuff. Obama has expectations and is committed. He expects positive results. Our new president will take care of America & will be out in front.
God Bless America and President Obama!
I'm proud of America's decision!

I am always amazed at the number of people who think our past politicians were great people who lived lives full of ethics and integrity. I feel like Jesus when he asked the question "He who is without sin cast the first stone." This country is in a mess because of our current and past politicians defying the rules outlined by General Cohen. Add to this what is now happening in the media, movies and television. I love sports but cut my television off during commercials because of the filth that is now considered the norm. Whatever happened to the FCC under Bush’s Administration? As far as the integrity of our forefathers, please keep in mind that they beat innocent people (slaves) into subjection as they built this great nation of ours -- on their backs (free labor.) Some even made slave daughters become their mistresses. It seems as though people have forgotten this. If we are going to analyze what is real integrity, let’s look at it from all angles.

Lastly, I know many people today are Obama-bashers and hate the fact that a man of color is in office (no matter where his parents are from.) Let me ask you a few questions: When was the last time you saw a President hugging and kissing his wife and children? Making family a priority? Adjusting his life to be there for his kids? This is a good foundation to build on, particularly in light of a time when support of family is almost nonexistent. I typically do not respond to blogs or other forms of mass communication, but I am really tired of the negative people in this country who have nothing better to do than to spew their venom because of their incorrect and insensitive upbringings.

WOW! God bless America, land of the free. As we the people can see, God has been taken out of our school prayers and Pledge of Allegiance, so if we are going to begin judging our new President and his administration, start judging from all angles. Our nation starts with our children because they are the future. Without moral standards instilled in our children, there is no future.

Just for the record, the original Pledge of Allegiance did not include the phrase, "...One nation, under God, indivisible,etc...". It actually read like this: "...one nation, indivisible,..." The phrase "under God" was added some time in the 1950s. I remember having to get used to adding the extra phrase when reciting it in school.

I disagree that taking out the phrase "under God" is comparable to destroying the moral standards instilled in our children. In my opinion, it helps them by ensuring that they learn tolerance of others, even those whose beliefs are different. To me, the responsibility for the moral standards of our children belongs first and foremost with their parents, many of whom are not doing a very good job of it. Indeed, the responsibility is actually all of ours. So instead of listening to divisive rhetoric on talk shows, and acting in divisive ways, we all need to set good examples for our children by looking for ways for us all to get along.

Seriously.

Our country was built on the principles of freedom, a fact that way too many seem to ignore. We are supposed to be "the melting pot" or "cultural stew"... and somewhere along the line, someone decided that we all must believe in God. Well, the existence of God is not a scientific fact and I do not think that government or schools should attempt to use it or enforce it as fact. I am aggravated by the one-sided ideas of conservatives who want our country's cumulative approach to morals to be based solely on religion. Morals come from many books and teachings; not just from the bible. That is what programs like Character Counts! are for; the secular world appreciates guidance based on facts and measurable outcomes of behavior, rather than the belief in the inevitable judgement by an invisible being. Barack Obama is the first politician elected in my lifetime who most closely represents many of us who believe in science and education and morals combined. I wish him all the strength and courage necessary to shoulder the immense weight of this transitional period in history.

I am very grateful that Josephson Institute keeps calling American citizens to higher values and standards like those of General Cohen. These higher values and standards can come from many disciplines (like from the military or from sacred writings). Our children generally have so little exposure to Holy Scriptures and classical philosophy...and so much exposure to an entertainment industry and a media culture that way too frequently pander to the lowest and basest of human desires...that it's no wonder they often appear to emulate the selfish and immoral stars of sports and Hollywood.

You should all be ashamed to use this forum to spout your political rhetoric! Get some character!

I agree that all should be ashamed to use this forum to spout their political rhetoric. In all countries it's about character. No matter what color or religion, we are all the human race. Many people, too many, need to grow up and develop character. Now.