SPY VS SPY

Secret Agent Man

Russian Federal Security Service says US embassy official was expelled because CIA persisted in trying to recruit Russians for espionage. Humiliates him with cheap blond wig...

MIRROR

 

Are we really this stupid?

Music of WW2

Chatanooga Choo Choo - Glen Miller Orchestra

This song was the number 1 single on December 7, 1941

Blues in the Night - Woody Herman

Recognized by many as 'Momma Done Told Me' this song hit number 1 the week of February 14, 1942  

Pistol Packing Mama - Al Dexter

Number 1 single the week of October 30, 1943

Swinging on a Star - Bing Crosby

Stayed at number 1 from August 5th until September 30, 1944

Sentimental Journey - Les Brown

Between VE day and VJ Day this song dominated the charts, and yes folks... that's Doris Day singing.

   

 

Perhaps the Cardinals should wear white...

Telegraph

...and the Pope Red!

We have created new idols. The worship of the golden calf of old (cf. Ex 32:15-34) has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.

 In circumstances like these, solidarity, which is the treasure of the poor, is often considered counterproductive, opposed to the logic of finance and the economy. While the income of a minority is increasing exponentially, that of the majority is crumbling. This imbalance results from ideologies which uphold the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation, and thus deny the right of control to States, which are themselves charged with providing for the common good. A new, invisible and at times virtual, tyranny is established, one which unilaterally and irremediably imposes its own laws and rules. Moreover, indebtedness and credit distance countries from their real economy and citizens from their real buying power.

These financiers, economists and politicians consider God to be unmanageable, unmanageable even dangerous, because he calls man to his full realization and to independence from any kind of slavery.  In this sense, I encourage the financial experts and the political leaders of your countries to consider the words of Saint John Chrysostom: “Not to share one’s goods with the poor is to rob them and to deprive them of life. It is not our goods that we possess, but theirs”

~Vatican~

The Capitalist reply

Wholly missing from the papal argument is the fact that business expansion, and the attraction of investment therein, is based on profits. Greater profits don’t necessarily guarantee more jobs in existing business and businesses of the future, but you can’t expect those jobs to materialize absent profit.  Profit isn’t what drives poverty, profit is what overcomes poverty.

The short of the matter is that capitalism is the engine of the general betterment of the human condition and profits its essential tool.

George Pieler, Jens Laurson - Forbes

The bloom it seems, is off the rose.

Tom Freeman

"it's a lot, especially when you begin with Benghazi, move on into the IRS, and now AP/FBI," said NBC anchor Brian Williams.

"this is a trifecta that really goes to the president's trust, that goes to the question of incompetence within the administration," said NBC's David Gregory.

"The Obama administration is doing a far better job making the case for conservatism than Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell, or John Boehner ever did. Showing is always better than telling, and when the government overreaches in so many ways it gives support to the conservative argument about the inherently rapacious nature of government." John Dickerson, Slate Magazine

“You have to understand and hear how it sounds like the administration might be hiding something, can you just say plainly, does the president believe they’re being truthful? And does he think that the leadership there needs to change?” Jessica Yellin, CNN

"President Obama could have acted like Richard Nixon, but if he wasn’t directly involved, it’s still bad because that makes him Mr. Magoo." Jon Stewart

"Obama and Holder must stop this before this Oval Office is stained forever. In fretting about the Tea Party and leaks to the press, the Obama who promised us unprecedented transparency is rendering an unprecedented display of paranoia and abridgement of freedom." Derrick Jackson, Boston Globe.

 "My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government.  We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government. Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing." Barrack Obama

Why AP?

Reporters across The Associated Press are outraged over the Justice Department’s sweeping seizure of staff phone records — and they say such an intrusion could chill their relationships with confidential sources.

“People are pretty mad — mad that government has not taken what we do seriously,” one reporter said on Tuesday.

Politico

Why?

The Obama administration has aggressively investigated disclosures of classified information to the media and has brought six cases against people suspected of providing classified information, more than under all previous presidents combined.

The U.S. attorney in Washington is conducting a criminal investigation into who may have provided information contained in a May 7, 2012, AP story about a foiled terror plot.  

The May 7 story was written by reporters Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman with contributions from reporters Kimberly Dozier, Eileen Sullivan and Alan Fram. They and their editor, Ted Bridis, were among the journalists whose April-May 2012 phone records were seized by the government.  

Mywaynews

Too Far?

The purpose of the subpoena was to allegedly track the leak, the "confidential sources", not to go after the reporters.  So now the question remains, was the Justice Department within it's legal purview in subpoenaing these records in the investigation into the illegal release of classified information. or... have they gone too far?  

A Day In The Life

Woke up, fell out of bed
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up, I noticed I was late
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the Oval Office in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke
And somebody spoke and I went into a dream 

I READ THE NEWS TODAY, OH BOY!

About an IRS man who... 

To paraphrase Hilary Clinton who was obviously way off base on that phone thing...

"It's 8 a.m. and your children are at school, but there's a TV in the White House and it's on. Something is happening in the world. Your vote will decide who watches that show. Whether it's someone who already knows a couple of people, knows community activism. Someone tested and ready to watch in a dangerous world. It's 8 a.m. and your children are at school. Who do you want watching that TV?" 

Is it just me?

Or are the rest of you as annoyed as I am at the President acting clueless and repeatedly claiming, "I heard this on the news the same time you did".

Honestly, I don't believe there is a conspiracy or that there is organized malicious intent in any of these administration gaffes... they are simply indicative of the complete lack of any significant executive experience on the part of our Chief Executive, and that you can't learn to be an executive as leader of the free world.  Fault lies not solely with the President but also with his staff. 

It basically boils down to one of two things... he's not listening (he allegedly misses half his daily briefs), or his staff isn't adequately briefing (The IRS thing was brought to the attention of the WH counsel's office a month ago).

How do I know this? 

  Been there, done that.

Anybody else out there remember transparencies?




   

What's with the IRS?

 

The Revenuers are coming!

At various points over the past two years, Internal Revenue Service officials targeted nonprofit groups that criticized the government and sought to educate Americans about the U.S. Constitution, according to documents in an audit conducted by the agency’s inspector general. Washington Post.

IRS staffers held a briefing with senior agency official Lois G. Lerner in which they described giving special attention to instances where “statements in the case file criticize how the country is being run.”

The investigation also revealed that a high-ranking IRS official knew as early as mid-2011 that conservative groups were being inappropriately targeted—nearly a year before then-IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman told a congressional committee the agency wasn't targeting conservative groups. Wall Street Journal.

The pro-Israel organization Z STREET filed a lawsuit against the IRS, claiming it had been told by an IRS agent that because the organization was “connected to Israel,” its application for tax-exempt status would receive additional scrutiny.  In addition, the IRS agent told a Z STREET representative that the applications of some of those Israel-related organizations have been assigned to “a special unit in the D.C. office to determine whether the organization’s activities contradict the Administration’s public policies.” National Review.

Trust Government?

Currently, 41% of Democrats say they have a favorable opinion of the federal government, compared with 27% of independents and just 13% of Republicans. Positive opinions of the government declined through the remainder of George W. Bush’s presidency and have continued to fall during the Obama administration.               Pew Research.

As the saying goes, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean people aren't out to get you.

 

It's not what you do...

ITS WHAT YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH!

 

From Benghazi to Lance Armstrong

Are we as Americans a dishonest culture?  In sports, academics, politics, and business, from Lance Armstrong to Bernie Madoff, we are continually confronted with examples of dishonesty.

Someone recently pointed towards Japan as an example of how stringent gun laws, to the point of a practical ban, reduce crime.  Yet that analysis falls apart when you look at non-gun crime, which in Japan is also virtually non-existent.  Leave your purse or wallet on a Japanese train and chances are very high that whoever finds it will return it to you, most likely personally.  Try that in New York, Philadelphia, or Washington DC.

The Honest Truth About Dishonesty

Dan Ariely teaches behavioral economics at Duke University and recently published a book on the subject and observes:

We lie. We cheat. We bend the rules. We break the rules. And sometimes, as we’ve seen in Greece, it all adds up. But, remarkably, this doesn’t stop us from thinking we’re wonderful, honest people. We’ve become very good at justifying our dishonest behaviors so that, at the end of the day, we feel good about who we are. This tendency is only getting worse, and, as innocent as it may seem, the consequences are becoming more apparent and more serious.  

 He also found that:

Three days after publication of my new book , The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, I was able to find electronic copies on a few websites that specialize in illegal content. These were high quality versions of the book, including the images of the cover, the references, and—my favorite part—the copyright notice. 

Truthiness

"the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true"

Stephen Colbert is usually credited with if not inventing, popularizing the term, but it is nothing new. Orwell used the term doublethink to describe the same concept:

The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them... To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies – all this is indispensably necessary. 

 So what do you think?

Are we more dishonest? Less?  About the same? 

It certainly seems that we are more tolerant of it,  especially when it's our team that's getting away with it.  Mark Sanford's recent election post-scandal seems to illustrate the fact that we are willing to either overlook or at least rationalize dishonesty... if not for ourselves then at least for the team.

More importantly, are we dishonest with ourselves?

Cheers!