According to AP:
A senior attorney at the SEC's D.C. HQ spent up to 8 hours a day looking at and downloading porn. He had boxes of DVD's in his office.
An accountant was blocked more than 16,000 times in one month from porn sites but still had a collection of it on his hard drive!
Seventeen of the ones caught, were making over $200,000!
That's where they learned to screw us, the taxpayer!
The worst part is it was probably all teabagging videos.
This IS terrible, and it most assuredly SHOULD go punished. BUT, what is important here is that we do not blow this totally out of proportion. What I mean by that is simply this;
This is going on in offices across the country, in big business and in small. To that end it is invariably happening in government offices across the country as well.
It just SOUNDS bad when it is said to be happening in a government body. It just sounds bad when it's on taxpayer's time, and certainly on the taxpayer's dime.
But again, this is going on everywhere. So, we cannot blow this out of proportion and turn it into a political issue, nor can we draw the conclusion that THIS is precisely the reason, nor that it has anything at all to do, with the SEC missing Enron, WorldCom, Bernie Madoff, and any others in this long list including the banks and whoever else you want to add.
Those things were missed for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with watching porn. Those things were a result of too much complexity and not enough oversight, and a system which encourages shoulder rubbing.
Like I said, it's bad. But let's not get away from the facts. It'll only drive us further from the real answers we need to solve the issues at hand.
Springboard you are the voice of reason!
Perhaps that's why they didn't think what Madoff was doing was obscene!
Oh that is just too funny. So much for more regulation and regulatory agencies being the solution. It would seem all we've done is create a jobs program for attorneys and accountants to get their rocks off at taxpayer expense.
Does anyone know where I can go to get my money back, this government is a lemon.
Honestly all our jobs are being outsourced overseas, why don't we do the same with government? At least then when we're getting screwed, we're doing so for a tenth of the cost!
So the solution of course is to create more laws, and more agencies?
Proof that nothing is working now. We certainly don't need more Government.
The past year 40,000 new laws hit the books across the United States. What's the point if they are not enforced? How much regulation do we as a people need.
Just today Obama was slamming Arizona for attempting to do something about Illegal Immigration. Something the Federal Government hasn't done in the past 40 years.
What I found most disheartening was that the bill in Arizona makes it a CRIME to be in Arizona illegally? Hello... you mean that being here illegally is not a crime now? What part of illegal is legal?
Sometimes when someone mentions illegal they are referring to a sick bird.
I wonder what the investigators said to them when they uncovered their dirty secret. Are you f***ing kidding?
I think it might have been a case of fat typing fingers the C and the X button is awful close on the keyboard.
They were just typing SEC when the mistake happened.
Some people will do or say anything to carry water for this adminstration. I guess they have gotten in so deep with the worshipful nonsense that they feel they can't go back.
This is a news story that's anything but new. It was actually reported in the medeia in November 2008. Who was president in 2008? This "news" has all the sincerity of "gambling in Rick's lounge? I'm SHOCKED..."
The GOP dragged out a Inspetor Generals report that IS significant in the light it sheds on the Bush SEC. In a few words - "The markets can regulate themselves." The GOP still intends to allow Wall Street to police themselves. Does that seem like a good idea. The GOP would castrate any agency that wants to interfere with 'free markets'.. If you lost your job last year, does that seem like a good idea? If you are a home-owner whose homelost 30, 40 or 50K in value in the recession, do you think an unregulated market is a great idea?
Goldman Sachs came out of the economic turmoil RICHER than before the recession. And the SEC under this admin is prosecuting for funny business.
I can't see how anyone else can't see who is on your side.
Lets see, hmmmm, who has been in control of Congress and the White House for over a year?
How long have they let this go on?
How many of them have been kept by the current administration?
Who has been in charge of them in the past year?
By the by Bush has been out of office for over a year now and still some people have such a hatred for him, they cannot let go.
There are those that despise Obama's policies but they do not spew venom and hate on a personal level like several do with Bush.
I have little love for few politicians Democrat or Republican, but while I may attack their policies, I respect them as a person, as long as they are honest about what they believe.
How come you see the venom directed at Bush as hatred, but the venom directed at Obama as attacks on his policies?
Do you maybe think that the venom towards Bush is because of HIS policies?
Oh no--we just hate Bush, while you hate policies....
Like the policy of voodooism by chance? You know, the one where Obama has been shown in African garb with a bone through his nose?
Yeah--I see where that isn't personal hatred.
How about the time a Chimpanzee escaped from a zoo, and certain right-wing people said it must have been one of Michell's relatives?
Yeah..policy hatred there too, right?
Own up to it! There is personal hatred coming from your side....and for what?
What policies have hurt you?
BREAKING NEWS:
FYI George W. Bush is no longer the president!
Therefore his policies are hindsight. He has none. YOU simply hate the man.
There is no hindsight for war crimes and crimes against humanity...unless you think that a President is above the law and the Constitution?
Interesting isn't it?
We'll see how you feel when the right-wingers try to impeach Obama.
I would support an investigation into the Bush administration.
Who would we look to for that to happen?
I wonder who controls the Dept of Justice?
Uhm well it must be George Bush?
Bush's policies put us into this recession and into two wars. They are not hindsight, they are still affecting us and will be for years.
I know you must be proud of all the Democrats who spoke out against starting those wars.
What was their name again?
Kucinich, Lee, Paul (R). maybe more, these are the ones I remember.
Not much but you must remember the mood back in those days? Bush=America!
ANYTHING anti Bush=Anti-America. Nobody wanted to look like a traitor, plain and simple. Or a wimp. Or an America-Hater...all of which labels were thrown around liberally.
They were derelict in their duty, which is what Kucinich said when he went to the floor with impeachment articles...he admitted Congress had been derelict, and was calling for them to do the right thing now.
zzzzzzz only one other Dem Jim McDermott, Vietnam vet stood with him. Sad. And Barbara Lee was the ONLY member who voted against the funding....
So now we have a new administration who's attitude is "Not going to go there." Why? Time will tell.
But pulleeeeze don't forget who also went along...every single Repub. And please don't forget CPAC last month 2010...who cheered Cheney and were chanting in the audiencd for him to run in 2012!
And when these repubs start calling for Obama to be impeached..that will be the absolute height of rotten political hypocricy.
I cannot think of a reason why Obama would go through an impeachment process.
I thought the whole Lewinsky/Clinton fiasco was an exorbitant waste of taxpayer money.
That's pretty much what Pelosi said too.
But then, what can they ever do that is bad enough? You know what I mean?
There's abig difference between an extra marital affair and the things that other crowd are accused of.
Oh I Know..it wasn't the affair, it was lying about it....must be why Bush refused to go under oath...and they let him!
Then we have all these people locked up for non-violent drug-related bs.
I mean, why bother to teach morals? Why keep up the pretense?
Just say if you are powerful, anything goes. If you are not...you can be locked up for sneezing if they want to get you bad enough.
Then go on and chant USA USA USA......barf.
You know except for the focus of our anger we both agree on many of the same things.
I just do not think that government has become moral due to one election.
The agenda continues with a different marionette.
"I thought the whole Lewinsky/Clinton fiasco was an exorbitant waste of taxpayer money."
It wouldn't have become such a big mess if the President hadn't broken the law.
I broke the law 5 minutes ago by jaywalking.
I do not think it would be economically responsible for the commonwealth to launch a major investigation into the matter.
You didn't perjure yourself. There is a significant difference in degree of offense (and punishment).
What value did the taxpayer get for the amount of money spent on the investigation?
Actually what Justice has ever been accomplished by these huge overblown media circus investigations?
Nixon resigned. G Gordon Liddy has a huge career.
Oliver North huge contracts.
George Bush The Presidency
Lewinsky Great Late Night jokes
But what value did the people actually receive except for the distraction?
Justice is its own end. If we don't pursue illegal actions by those in power (because it's too much trouble?! not important enough?!) we will end up with ever greater corruption and those in power will very quickly come to the conclusion that all manner of offense 'is no big deal' and be even more unrestrained than they already are. Don't complain about illegal activities being punished unless you want more and more of them. If you don't want criminals to become celebrities don't watch/read/listen to them.
If some kid from the neighborhood robs a bank, gets caught, does a few years, and gets 'street cred' when he returns to the neighborhood, does that mean we shouldn't have incarcerated him for robbing the bank?
We are a nation of laws.
I agree but it seems that these government inquisitions are done for the benefit of the uneducated masses.
It lulls us into the belief that someone in Washington or politics in general is watching out for us.
At the end of the day everyone walks away brushes off their Armani suits to go home and write their bestseller.
What Justice is actually accomplished.
Blah Blah Blah now they are in trouble. BS they put on a charade for the viewers while selling advertisements at primo dollars on the networks.
What do the people end up with. DEBT!
So I guess we'll be prosecuting Bush for war crimes and lying to the American people then?
So do nothing and become a lawless failed state? No thanks. The law must especially be applied to those in power whether or not you think it is too much trouble to bother with.
I am not saying it is too much trouble. I am saying that nobody ever gets punished. People get time everyday for pretty petty stuff. For citizens the court system is like a meat grinder but when it comes to politicians it is just smoke and mirrors. A bunch of over educated Esquires and their lawyers.
I want Justice served I just do not feel we are getting it.
Agree with that.
And getting so tired of it too...
I hope a few people from Goldmine Sacks do some time. What they did was a bit worse than surfing porn.
It is incredibly disheartening to see liars in power get away with murder.
"So I guess we'll be prosecuting Bush for war crimes and lying to the American people then?"
If you or any other hysterical leftie can bring actual evidence beyond deep, heart-felt emotions then go for it. That will, of course, never happen.
It's all there in living color--courtesy of you-tube and television (and print).
"We know exactly where the weapons are"
"Saddam is working with al-queda"
"We do not torture"
"We never knew anyone was planning to fly airplanes into buildings"
"Saddam is planning a mushroom cloud attack"....
"Yellow cake uranium"
"Sexed-up Downing Street memo"
All lies. AND provable. Just watch them from one year to the next.
Of course, I realize it's not as important to you as "I did not have sex with that woman", but they are lies nonetheless.
And torture is a war crime.
And invading a nation and killing innocent civilians is a crime against humanity.
I know it's not as bad as sperm on a blue dress, but STILL.
You talk a good game, but only half the time...when those you don't like are doing the lieing...othewise, you seem to be fine with it.
And we haven't even touched on 9/11....
But I GET IT....we will never go after them for what they did.
They will go into the night as hero's who saved America from terror. What a grand sham.
Just don't say one word about Obama...you have no moral high ground, and 0 credibility.
I was thinking about responding with this but you beat me to it Chris!
The lies came out of their mouths and are on video. The results are plain to see - more than 5,000 American soldiers dead and many thousands of Iraqi civilians dead.
Let's see: thousands dead, based on lies.
vs.
a guy getting some extramarital lovin' and not admitting it in front of the whole nation.
One president lied and killed thousands. One president lied and had an orgasm.
And people accuse the left of moral relativism?
ha ha...I know, it's so infuriating!
Actually, a good place to see all of it in chronological order is The Daily Show video archives!!!
Meet the Press....
Tons and tons of articles.
Books written on the subject...
But nobody knows what they're talking about. It's all a big conspiracy to "get" Bush....
*sigh*...it's really dis-heartening.
But you gotta just keep plugging...at least the rest of the world isn't so blind.
"I am not saying it is too much trouble. I am saying that nobody ever gets punished. "
Not every investigation results in conviction. If someone in power is found guilty of something then they should be punished, of course. We can't get there unless we are vigilant and pursue cases of wrongdoing.
Again, nothing but hysterical lefty emoting. Nothing will come of such partisan p*ssing because there is nothing to it. Armies of lefty lawyers have wanted nothing more than to bring down Bush since he first won the Presidency and... nada.
Clinton, on the other hand, actually broke an actual law.
You don't like it? Tough #$*^
This is not about Obama or Bush. These rattlers will now get wiped out, and that is what matters!
Do you think incidents like this are isolated.
How many other U.S. Government workers are piddling away their time at taxpayer expense.
I worked for a private corporation, a state government agency and a federal government agency, and I never heard of anyone accessing X-rated sites. It's true that many employers, public and private, have issues with some employees wasting time on company PCs surfing the Internet. I have no doubt that accessing porn sites does occur--I heard of one case where an office janitor was accessing porn sites on one of the office PCs after hours. An employee whose computer was used by the janitor was in trouble until it was established that the janitor was the culprit. He was fired for wasting time and unauthorized use of his employer's computer. My point is that problems like this are not more prevalent in the government than in private industry. In my experience, time is wasted by employees in private industry at about the same rate as by government employees.
Americans are not paying those in private business' for wasting time.
It is ironic that this story breaks within hours of govt protesters in Chicago.
Sometimes I feel like I am living in a Bizzaro world. LOL
This is a story that broke in November 2008.
It's been dredged up at this time by the GOP to try to undemine momentum for financial reform of Wall Street.
At the time of these offenses, appointees of Bush had made it clear thet Wall Street can regulate itself. These people shouldn't have been surfing porn, but they were discouraged from and prevented from doing anything to interfere with Wall Street.
Is there any problem in this country that will not be blamed on Bush?
At exactly what time duration does the current employee take responsibility for the position?
Who the president is or was is kind of irrelevant when you see such a case of blatant waste of taxpayer wealth.
The Inspector General report on which this is based cam out in 2008 and coveread abuses for a period of 5 previous years. That's 2003 to 2008. All of them Bush years. This is a deliberate attempt to distract voters and it came from a GOP senator who brought up OLD news as if it was NEW news.
You can bet it's not been going on under the crrent administration, and the action by the SEC against Goldman shows where the agency is now.
I wouldn't take that bet! The point isn't what administration it took place under, the point is government is corrupt, it's ineffective and inefficient because there is no motive to be so. This is what our tax money supports, inefficient, ineffective corrupt agencies that exist only to re-elect the the fools that dominate our lives., and Obama is doing everything he can to expand those agencies. His health care bill alone adds more agencies than FDR did in all of his 4 terms!
If a government worker is spending eight hours a day watching videos not related to their job. I think that would make that persons entire compensation package an unnecessary expense?
Proving that government budgets could be trimmed without affecting the level of competency we receive in return.
Private business can be responsible for themselves. I do not care if a guy at the T Mobile counter in the mall is watching porn on his IPhone. Let TMobile deal with that.
When the abuse is at taxpayer expense there is only one reason that it happens. We allow it to. Corruption is corruption regardless if the person is stealing pens from the office or sleeping on the job. Both instances are cases of theft. Theft from the taxpayer.
Our employees need to be held to a higher standard. The only way that will happen is if they feel and hear the outrage of the populace. Their jobs need to be terminated and prosecution ensued.
Wow....Virtual Reality World....
As if peope want to bring Bush down for what?
Cause he's white?
You really see nothing that Bush did was wrong do you?
You really think Saddam was a threat, bin-laden did 9/11, and this economic free-for-all just "happened" by chance, don't you? Rich got richer, poor got poorer....all just accidental?
And of course, ALL of our problems started in January of 09, huh?
We were living a paradise before Obama came to town, and all was right with the world.
well, who cares, but;
Torture is ILLEGAL.
Wiretapping without FISA is ILLEGAL.
Invading a foreign nation that poses no threat to us is ILLEGAL.
Lieing to accomplish all that is ILLEGAL...surely it must be if lieing about an affair commands impeachment?
You forget Clinton was impeached.
And you won't even look at what Bushco did....why?
Bet you can't wait to impeach Obama too.
Like I said...no moral highground and 0 credibility.
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