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Thursday, April 19, 2012

April 19, 2012 - Morning Headlines

- Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta apologizes for recent troop photo scandal while the military says an investigation will be conducted (CNN): http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/18/world/asia/afghanistan-troops-photos/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

- Three Secret Service agents have been dismissed for their alleged involvement in a prostitution scandal in Columbia (Fox News): http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04/18/federal-official-secret-service-firings-coming-resignations-already/?test=latestnews

- India test fired a new missile capable of reaching Beijing and Europe (MSNBC): http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/18/11275632-india-test-fires-china-killer-missile-capable-of-reaching-beijing-europe?lite

- The judge in the George Zimmerman murder trial said she would recuse herself because of two potential conflicts of interest (CBS News): http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57415931-504083/judge-jessica-recksiedler-steps-down-from-george-zimmerman-murder-case/?tag=stack

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3 comments:

  1. This is going to sound odd coming from me, but this Secret Service thing isn't so bad. Hear me out.

    If I go to Amsterdam and smoke marijuana, I have broken no laws and have done nothing wrong. If I tested positive for marijuana and I worked for the government, they cannot fire me if I did it in Amsterdam. If prostitution is legal in Columbia, why are these men getting in trouble? They went out and partied and relieved stress. Big deal.

    Yes, I understand you have to have respect for the office, and respect for the uniform (I know they're not uniformed members of the military, but still), but respect for those institutions means always following laws. If prostitution is legal there and illegal here, who is right? They don't trump us, we don't trump them. Flip a coin. The default, to me, falls to "obey the laws of the land you're in." These agents did that.

    I really don't see a problem.

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  2. Hey MN 4 Rick, good day to you.

    I agree that what they do in their free time is their business. That isn't the issue. The issue is that they broke all kinds of security protocol. That is the huge problem. They potentially jeopardized the safety of 0bama by allowing unauthorized people into a secure area and I read that the President's schedule was in one of those rooms. I would dare to say that he is a lot more pissed about this than what we are hearing about. I would be too.

    The agent could have saved their self all the publicity if he would have just paid the girl the $47. I heard on the radio (ABC news at top of the hour on the local radio) that some of the girls MAY have been underage. If true, that's not really cool.

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  3. Slim - You know, you make good points. But the catch is, it seems like the media, maybe while trying to keep the story "juicy" is focusing on the prostitution part. If it was a security issue (you could very well be right), I completely understand the outrage and media coverage. It if is a security issue, I'm not surprised the media would only focus on the prostitution part. Thank you very much for clearing that up.

    If the girls are underage, then you're totally right. That is very sad, and I hope it's not the case. If it is, though, I think the problem is even bigger.

    By the way, I posted this comment first, but it replaced the screen name with LME's handle. LME - this might be a glitch you might want to look in to. It's not the first time it has happened. I deleted and reposted and it's fine now. Just a heads up.

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