Ethics

Seth Godin has pointed out a new Anti-Astroturfing Wiki, for exposing those who are creating fake grassroots efforts by actions like coordinating letters to the editor or blog comment posts which don’t mention the coordinating body–a practice engaged in by both advocates for and against net neutrality regulations. The current Wikipedia definition: “In American politics and advertising, the term astroturfing describes formal public relations projects which deliberately seek to engineer the impression of spontaneous, grassroots behavior. The goal is the appearance of independent public reaction to a politician, political group, product, service, event, or similar entities by centrally orchestrating the behavior of many diverse and geographically distributed individuals." The Anti-Astroturfing Wiki and campaign has been set up as part of TheNewPR Wiki by Paull Young and Trevor Cook in response to the PR Institute of Australia’s promotion of a “how-to” seminar on astroturfing even though the practice violates the PRIA Code of Ethics. Young has issued an anti-astroturfing statement: ...

I’ve submitted this review of The Millionaire Mind by Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D. (2001, Andrews McMeel Publishing) to Amazon.com: This is a deeply flawed book. It purports to be a description of the characteristics and attitudes that make wealthy people wealthy, but it is based mostly on their self-assessments without comparison to a control group. I suspect that this heavily underplays the role of random chance in success, and attributes causation where there is only correlation. Further, the author display clear biases on a number of topics, which leads him to engage in ad hoc interpretation of his data, sometimes to argue for conclusions that are contrary to the clear implications of the data–such as his arguments for the importance of religion in the lives of millionaires. On pp. 33-35, the author looks at success factors, and compares to the role of luck on pp. 82-85, which he downplays in favor of discipline. While he touches on the importance of having the right connections (and the genetic contributions to intelligence), on p. 85 he asks “what does luck have to do with graduating from medical school? What does luck have to do with successfully running a medical practice? Very little, according to these physicians.” But what does luck have to do with being born into a family and in a country where one has a chance to reach adulthood, let alone be able to attend a medical school? Quite a bit. ...

Yet another rock formation has been misidentified as Noah’s Ark by evangelical Christian explorers (“Arkeologists”). They apparently forgot to bring a geologist or archaeologist with them, but they did bring “some of America’s leading businessmen, an attorney who has argued several cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and two leading apologists” and take some incredibly unimpressive photographs. The expedition was led by former Costa Mesa, CA police officer turned “international explorer and author,” Bob Cornuke, who runs something called the BASE (Bible Archaeology Search and Exploration) Institute. I hope his ethics are better than those of former nurse-anesthetist turned international explorer and author Ron Wyatt, who found a profitable career by claiming to find virtually every possible biblical site and artifact. (Wyatt, a Seventh-Day Adventist, was best debunked in a book by his fellow SDA members Russell R. Standish and Colin D. Standish, Holy Relics or Revelation, a book I highly recommend.) Ed Brayton has done a good job of dissecting the claims in the announcement article. As he notes, this is far from the first such claimed discovery of Noah’s Ark. This one is in Iran rather than the usual location of Agri Dagi in Turkey. I actually give them credit for not looking on Agri Dagi (Mt. Ararat), since the Bible only says that the Ark landed in a region called Ararat, not a mountain of that name (2 Kings 19:37, Jeremiah 51:27). For a review of some previous claimed Noah’s Ark sightings, see my 1993-1994 articles from Skeptic magazine, “Sun Goes Down in Flames: The Jammal Ark Hoax” and “Update on the Ark Hoax”.

Al Franken had a debate with Ann Coulter at the University of Judaism; Franken’s initial presentation is here, and is quite good. There’s a bit more background here–has anyone seen Coulter’s response transcribed? At one point, Franken says: You can’t have good government without the truth. During the crafting and passage of the Medicare prescription drug bill, the chief actuary of Medicare was told to withhold from Congress the true cost of the bill. He’d be fired if he told the truth. ...

Jeff Shallit reports on Nancy Pearcey, a young-earth creationist who used to be a regular contributor to the Bible-Science Newsletter (and some of those pieces became part of the intelligent design textbook, Of Pandas and People, published by the Foundation for Thought and Ethics). Jeff checked out her 1994 book, The Soul of Science: Christian Faith and Natural Philosophy, co-authored with Charles Thaxton (who was also the co-author of The Mystery of Life’s Origin, the first book from the FTE). He shows how her book gives a simple, short, clear, and straight-forward description of information theory, which suffers only from being completely wrong.

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), who was previously pointed out exchanging donations to his charity for government contracts, now denies that the charity, Operation Good Neighbor, is his. Sure, he founded it, but he says (in a letter to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) that he’s had nothing to do with it since then: I do not have a personal charity. The reference was an allusion to Operation Good Neighbor, a charitable organization that I founded in 2000. Since then, I have had no control over its direction. My involvement is limited to being honorary chairman of the board – a board that includes former Philadelphia mayor W. Wilson Goode, a prominent Democrat – and lending my name to fund-raising events. That’s it.Attytood shows, with quotes and photos, that Santorum’s a liar. Also in today’s news is that Barbara Bonfiglio, former treasurer of political action committees for the indicted Sen. Tom DeLay (R-TX), Santorum, and convicted former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA), has resigned from the D.C. law firm of Williams & Jensen and from her post as treasurer of dirty politician Rep. Rich Pombo (R-CA)’s political action committee. Her lawfirm bio says “She also advises the firm’s clients on matters involving House and Senate ethics rules, as well as compliance with the Lobbying Disclosure Act.” She was treasurer of Santorum’s charity, Operation Good Neighbor. Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that Santorum lied when he said he would stop regular meetings with lobbyists: After saying in January that he would end his regular meetings with lobbyists, Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), the third-ranking GOP leader in the Senate, has continued to meet with many of the same lobbyists at the same time and on the same day of the week.(Via Talking Points Memo and TPM’s Daily Muck.) UPDATE: At least three lobbyists have been working at Santorum’s charity–in addition to Barbara Bonfiglio, mentioned above, lobbyist Rob Bickhart, whose offices are also the home of Santorum’s PAC and re-election campaign, works for the charity. And the charity is spending as much as 60% of its money on non-charitable things, like $200,000 for travel expenses and meetings. Santorum’s response, when asked about this, was to deny that Bickhart is a lobbyist.

Answers in Genesis had been an international organization, with the U.S. branch under Ken Ham based in Kentucky, and an Australian branch under Carl Wieland in Queensland (which was formerly known as the Creation Science Foundation). Now the Australian group (along with ministries in Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa) has changed its name to Creation Ministries International, explaining in a recent brochure that the U.S. group did not want to be “subject to an international representative system of checks/balances/peer review involving all the other offices bearing the same ‘brand name’." This explains why an article critical of bad creationist arguments (and specifically Kent Hovind) disappeared from the Answers in Genesis site, but is found on the new Creation Ministries International site. (UPDATE (March 6, 2006): This statement was not quite accurate, but the linked-to page gets it right. The article listing arguments not to use is still present on the Answers in Genesis site, but it no longer links to the separate “maintaining creationist integrity” page and response to Kent Hovind which is present on the Creation Ministries International site.) Wieland’s group has made a point of publishing material critical of bad creationist arguments, on its website and in its technical journal. Ken Ham, on the other hand, has made a point of publishing and presenting bad creationist arguments. The U.S. group, known for spending millions on a creationist museum, has interesting Form 990s filed with the IRS. Some highlights from 2003 and 2004: Revenue: $9,016,228 (2003), $10,423,222 (2004). Expenses: $6,894,456 (2003), $8,320,926 (2004). Assets: $10,778,086 (2003), $17,368,759 (2004). Liabilities: $1,693,035 (2003), $6,086,610 (2004). Officer/Director compensation: $313,960 (2003), $926,837 (2004). Other salaries/wages: $2,938,288 (2003), $2,852,351 (2004). Pension plan contributions: $87,819 (2003), $0 (2004). Other employee benefits: $317,802 (2003), $399,482 (2004). Payroll taxes: $223,636 (2003), $307,267 (2004). Employees with salaries over $50,000: Kevin Markesbery, Construction Manager, $87,000 plus $8,778 to benefit plans/deferred income and $1,375 expense account (2003). $88,678 plus $6,850 to benefit plans, $4,076 expense account (2004). John Pence, Dir. of Planned Giving/Legal Counsel, $87,539 plus $7,728 to benefit plans/deferred income (2003). (Became a director in 2004, see below). Patrick Marsh, Director, $73,713 plus $5,202 to benefit plans (2004). James Hatton, Controller, $70,763 plus $8,609 to benefit plans/deferred income. Kathy Ellis, Dir. Administration, $68,519 plus $7,078 to benefit plans/deferred income. Mark Looy, VP Ministry Relations, $68,417 plus $8,460 to benefit plans/deferred income and $2,232 expense account. (Became a director in 2004, see below.) Tony Ramsek, Systems Mgr., $62,720 plus $6,821 to benefit plans (2004). Dan Zordel, Director, $57,724 plus $6,816 to benefit plans and $839 expense account (2004). Charles Tilton, Director, $56,828 plus $3,109 to benefit plans and $112 expense account (2004). Directors: Carl Wieland, Board Member, $0 (2003). Ken Ham, President, $125,739 salary, $11,033 benefits, $44,478 expenses (2003). $121,764 salary, $6,887 benefits, $63,808 expenses (2004). Bill Wise, CFO, $121,418 salary, $8,845 benefits, $2,535 expenses (2003). John Pence, General Counsel, $93,115 salary, $3,148 benefits (2004). Kathy Ellis, Vice President, $86,068 salary, $5,261 benefits (2004). Mark Looy, Vice President, $85,615 salary, $6,820 benefits, $3,518 expenses (2004). James Hatton, CFO, $81,000 salary, $6,831 benefits (2004). Mike Zovath, VP, $74,798 salary, $8,707 benefits, $2,267 expenses (2003). $90,201 salary, $6,830 benefits, $1,115 expenses (2004). Brandon Vallorani, $74,432 salary, $8,313 benefits, $1,368 expenses (2003). COO, $90,344 salary, $6,223 benefits, $2,316 expenses (2004). Don Landis, Chairman, $0 (2003). $0 (2004). Dan Chin, Board Member, $0 (2003). $0 (2004). Mark Jackson, Board Member, $0 (2003). $0 (2004). Carl Kerby, Board Member, $6,538 salary (20hrs/week), $1,650 benefits, $22,462 expenses (2003). Vice President, $65,112 salary, $4,225 benefits, $27,240 expenses (2004). Dan Manthei, Board Member, $0 (2003). $0 (2004). Peter Strong, Board Member, $0 (2003). Greg Peacock, Board Member, $0 (2003). $0 (2004). Paul Salmon, Board Member, $0 (2003). David Denner, Board Member, $0 (2004). Dale Mason, Vice President, $115,621 salary, $4,828 benefits (2004). John Thallon, Board Member, $0 (2004). Tim Dudley, Board Member, $0 (2004). They paid their top building contractors in 2003: plumbing and HVAC: $829,979 concrete: $310,252 steel erection: $279,428 building electric: $249,450 concrete foundations: $195,872 In 2003 they sold or gave away several old computers, and gave a 2002 Toyota Camry to CFO Bill Wise (who also got a free Compaq laptop). The full AiG 2004 Form 990 may be found here (PDF). Ken Ham earns a pretty good salary for someone who spouts misrepresentations of and about evolution for a living and resides in a state where the median household income in 2002-2003 was $37,270. Answers in Genesis of Kentucky’s unwillingness to undergo even the peer review of fellow creationist organizations indicates to me a lack of ethics and integrity. UPDATE: I didn’t explicitly note above that this schism must have actually taken place back in 2005, since Carl Wieland and the other Australians (Greg Peacock and Paul Salmon) disappeared from the AiG Kentucky board in the 2004 Form 990 (signed on August 10, 2005, apparently an update since the original was due by May 15). Also of note is that John Thallon, an Australian who helped lose the Creation Science Foundation thousands of dollars in a bogus investment (he was also a victim, not a party to the fraud–see the “Loss of Funds” section of my article “How Not To Argue With Creationists”), has moved to Kentucky and is on the board as of 2004. One other thing worthy of note is that as Answers in Genesis of Kentucky has grown, it has pulled support away from the Institute for Creation Research (ICR), which Henry Morris’ son John Morris has never really had his heart in running. The ICR’s 2004 revenue was $4,341,000, with expenses of $4,231,885. They had assets of $5,628,352 and liabilities of $537,283–so they’re not exactly hurting, but they’re not doing AiG-sized business, either. (2004 Form 990 for the ICR is here (PDF).) It wouldn’t surprise me if AiG ultimately completely displaced (or perhaps acquired) the ICR. ...

The International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium ("(ISC)2")’s CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) certification is the best known information security certification. According to “(ISC)2”’s website, all CISSPs “are required to commit to fully support” the “(ISC)2” Code of Ethics. This code of ethics includes four mandatory canons: Protect society, the commonwealth, and the infrastructure. Act honorably, honestly, justly, responsibly, and legally. Provide diligent and competent service to principals. Advance and protect the profession.The second of these canons is spelled out in more detail with a set of bullet points, the first of which is: Tell the truth; make all stakeholders aware of your actions on a timely basis.Clearly, honesty is a key requirement of this code of ethics. An up-and-coming certificate for information security managers is the Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) certification from the Information Systems Audit and Compliance Association (ISACA). ISACA also has a Code of Professional Ethics, which states that all ISACA certificate holders will comply with seven statements, the third of which is: 3. Serve in the interest of stakeholders in a lawful and honest manner, while maintaining high standards of conduct and character, and not engage in acts discreditable to the profession.Again, honesty is clearly a key requirement. I recently learned that these requirements are not met by a prominent information security professional who frequently speaks at high-profile security conferences, has held the Chief Security Officer position at Exodus, Cable & Wireless, and Savvis, has been Chairman of the Internet Security Alliance, and is Chairman of the FCC’s NRIC Homeland Security focus group on cyber security. “Dr.” Bill Hancock has degrees from a diploma mill, has repeatedly told false stories about being a Vietnam war veteran, a Navy SEAL, and a prisoner of war, and has lied about his martial arts expertise.

Talking Points Memo points out that Cheney sent out three surrogates to assign blame to the victim (who then apologized publicly to Cheney!), contrary to Mary Matalin’s claim on “Meet the Press”–even though she was surrogate #3!

As you already know if you pay attention to the mainstream media, VP Dick Cheney accidentally shot a 78-year-old man with a shotgun while hunting quail with him in Texas. His hunting partner, Harry Whittington, is in stable condition in a hospital in Corpus Christi, after being sprayed in the face (fortunately not in the eyes) and chest with shotgun pellets. Whittington, a lawyer who was appointed by then-Gov. George W. Bush to the Texas Funeral Services Commission, now has a great story to tell his grandchildren. (BTW, the title is a reference to a song here.) UPDATE: Pharyngula points out that the type of “hunting” Cheney engaged in back in 2003 involved having pen-raised animals released for his shooting pleasure. 500 farm-raised pheasants were released for the Cheney party’s entertainment, and they killed at least 417 of them, along with an unknown number of captive mallard ducks. I haven’t seen an indication that this quail hunting incident was of pen-raised quail, but that seems to be common. ...