Rotten in SEC

ABC news has been revealing some disturbing allegations the past two days. Yesterday, ABC reported that some Countrywide executives are buying up foreclosed property on loans they generated that were untenable so-called sub prime to begin with for pennies on a dollar. That no regulatory mechanism is preventing this is scandalous. The story today that was broken by Brian Ross chronicled how the regulator responsible for IndyMac bank knew of the books being "cooked" and permitted, according to Ross, even expedited it. This bureaucrat was tied to the Keating scandal years ago, yet remained in government according to the ABC report. Whether the Securities and Exchange overseers were negligent or corrupt (perhaps receiving bribes, kickbacks, or a stake in the foreclosed properties themselves) is open to speculation and should be thoroughly investigated.

Profound Public Perfidy

J. Edgar Hoover ran the FBI in such a way that his agents, the G-men, were deemed to be beyond reproach. The truth of this was debatable, but though the FBI was Hoover's fiefdom and used for political purposes, the agents were mostly on the up and up. Today, a report emerged that FBI agents serving in Iraq billed the government (read taxpayer) $45,000 apiece in overtime for three(3) months work. They even had the gaul to bill the taxpayer for attending cocktail parties, calling it "liaison work". If this isn't criminal, it should be. How can these abuser of the public trust and squanderers of our money keep their jobs?