SEC Staffers Caught Watching Porn While System Crashed

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Posted on 23rd April 2010 by Ben Krasner in Day to Day Goodies | In The News | Politics - U.S. National

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By: AP

Via: CNBC.com @ http://www.cnbc.com/id/36733087

Senior staffers at the Securities and Exchange Commission spent hours surfing pornographic websites on government-issued computers while they were being paid to police the financial system, an agency watchdog says.

The SEC’s inspector general conducted 33 probes of employees looking at explicit images in the past five years, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press.

The memo says 31 of those probes occurred in the 2 1/2 years since the financial system teetered and nearly crashed.

The staffers’ behavior violated government-wide ethics rules, it says.

It was written by SEC Inspector General David Kotz in response to a request from Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

The memo was first reported Thursday evening by ABC News. It summarizes past inspector general probes and reports some shocking findings:

  • A senior attorney at the SEC’s Washington headquarters spent up to eight hours a day looking at and downloading pornography. When he ran out of hard drive space, he burned the files to CDs or DVDs, which he kept in boxes around his office. He agreed to resign, an earlier watchdog report said.
  • An accountant was blocked more than 16,000 times in a month from visiting websites classified as “Sex” or “Pornography.” Yet he still managed to amass a collection of “very graphic” material on his hard drive by using Google images to bypass the SEC’s internal filter, according to an earlier report from the inspector general. The accountant refused to testify in his defense, and received a 14-day suspension.
  • Seventeen of the employees were “at a senior level,” earning salaries of up to $222,418.
  • The number of cases jumped from two in 2007 to 16 in 2008. The cracks in the financial system emerged in mid-2007 and spread into full-blown panic by the fall of 2008.

Read the rest of “SEC Staffers Watched Porn as System Crashed” @ CNBC.com

Pittsburgh Steelers 2010 NFL Draft 1st Round Recap Video Blog

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Posted on 22nd April 2010 by Ben Krasner in Sports Commentary

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Pittsburgh had a tough off-season but took a nice step forward with their first round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.  Here’s my video blog recap.

Detroit Lions 2010 NFL Draft 1st Round Recap Video Blog

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Posted on 22nd April 2010 by Ben Krasner in Sports Commentary

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Yes… I am a closet Detroit Lions fan.  Irrespective of that, the Lions had a solid 1st round of the 2010 NFL Draft.  Here’s my video blog recap.

NFL Draft – Pittsburgh Steelers Preview

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Posted on 22nd April 2010 by Ben Krasner in Sports Commentary

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With the tumultuous offseason that the Steelers have had, the only thing I am certain of is that the character of the potential draft picks will be scrutinized more than most other teams, this time around.  The Steelers gave away their most recent Super Bowl MVP for off-field problems and Big Ben has been suspended for at least a quarter of the season – if not a third of it – for similar reasons. But the biggest problem for Pittsburgh last season was their inability to control the line of scrimmage and run the ball – or protect their QB for that matter – and that’s where they need to start infusing talent in my opinion, specifically with interior offensive linemen to attack and open up the running game between the tackles for Mendenhall.  Honestly, if I’m Pittsburgh, I take two prospects here if two are available that make sense.  Other than offensive linemen, I’d like to see Pittsburgh take a CB to help their pass defense, possibly a defensive lineman to infuse a little more youth and strength, there, and consider a WR to replace some of the quickness and catching ability that they lost in jettisoning Holmes.  Running back is also still a bit of a question mark, especially in terms of depth with Willie Parker not yet signed.

Pittsburgh obtained a QB for a stop-gap in Byron Leftwich, from Tampa Bay, which likely buys them the time they needed for Ben to come back from suspension.  They won’t be great at QB with Leftwich, but they probably will be good enough to win some games during a truly innocent looking start to the 2010 season schedule.  In other words, they probably won’t be looking to draft Tim Tebow, just because he’s a huge character asset and because they need a QB that they can trust to be on the field.  I doubt they will take a QB at all.  Ben’s not likely going anywhere – unless he becomes a habitual problem or he burns the bridge himself.

The WR position is a different story – I think they need to address that.  Ward is getting old, unfortunately, and that needs some attention.  Holmes was the reliable down-field target and now that’s gone.  Randel El was picked back up but he’s not going to provide too much more and for too much longer.  Mike Wallace and Limas Sweed are now the big question marks.  Sweed has not been an answer at WR so far but has some talent.  Wallace was a pretty nice surprise last season but now he becomes a question of consistency – Can he be relied on while he is covered by the other teams’ #1 cover man?  Last season he was often not covered by a great cover man.

Bottom line, first round pick must be an interior offensive lineman and there are only a couple of 1st round worthy names to consider at their slot at 18 – Maurkice Pouncey and Mike Iupati.  So the question will be if they want a guy with the flexibility to play center, or just get a bull of a guard.  I don’t really think they can go wrong, so it will be interesting to see if they do in fact go this way and, if so, who they go with.  There hasn’t been any talk of either prospect having any character issues, which makes this even more of a certainty in my opinion.

Second round pick … I really think they could go for another offensive lineman for the interior if a good prospect is present that makes sense.  Will they?  Who knows.  If they don’t, then I would hope they find a nice cornerback prospect left on the board or try to move up to get one if those prospects are running low.  Depending on what they want to do at running back and with Willie Parker – and who is sitting there available with the #20 pick in the second round – it’s possible they also add a RB to the mix with Mendenhall, too.  The second round pick is nowhere near as cut and dry in my mind as the first round pick is.

Third round again becomes a reaction to what Pittsburgh does in the second round.  They either take an offensive lineman or a cornerback, I would say.  Or, if the right prospect is available, a WR or RB.  Defensive lineman becomes intriguing if a guy has slid or has become undervalued and sits available at the 18th pick in round three.

Fourth round pick likely becomes best available and for depth.  They could continue working in the secondary because they need prospects there, or they could use the second or third round to address the secondary.  To me, the same positions keep repeating themselves over and over again.  The needs are pretty concentrated on this team, so offensive line, cornerback and wide receiver just keep popping up as the paths to take in this draft, with defensive tackle and running back as the darker horses.

The Steelers also have four fifth round picks, a sixth and a seventh, so there’s plenty of room for play if they need to maneuver a little bit in the later rounds to get guys that are rated higher than others on their draft board.

NFL Draft – Detroit Lions Preview

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Posted on 22nd April 2010 by Ben Krasner in Sports Commentary

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There’s not a lot that Detroit doesn’t need to work on in the 2010 NFL Draft, but they have been active in free agency and have brought in help at a number of the glaring spots on the roster.  To me this draft needs to be about reaching back to the black and blue division roots, for Detroit.  The defense was atrocious – simply atrocious.  Defense starts and ends up front and the Lions defensive front was a disaster the past two seasons. They also have not protected their defense very well for a number of seasons and need to be able to control the ball on offense better by converting and making first downs by having a better running game to put them in position for better success on 2nd and 3rd downs.  After that, Detroit needs to invest in better athletes at the cornerback and safety positions to help in defending the pass.

Everyone seems to think Ndamukong Suh will be available at the #2 spot and I would hope the Lions would take Suh to make what would seem to be an immediate impact on the defensive front in the way of controlling the line of scrimmage.  That’s my pick, anyway.

In the second round, I would hope the Lions find a decent running back to help make some yardage on the ground.  Detroit is looking for Smith to come back from injury quickly, but in reality I don’t think they have a heck of a lot in Smith as a featured runner anyway.  They need to upgrade this position… the question would be, of course, can you do that in the second round?  Keep in mind that Smith was a second rounder, too.  If they can’t upgrade the RB position, then another pick on defense would make more sense … a cornerback, safety or even an athletic linebacker who can play in space.

With the third round pick, I think you simply address whatever didn’t get addressed in round two or you take whatever the best value is on the board with any other position that could stand a piece of young talent to be added.  Of those not already mentioned, offensive linemen and a craft receiver for the middle of the field would be nice options.

Once they get to the 4th round pick, their last until they pick 4 times in the 7th round, it’s again about value and/or taking guys that have questions sitting out there about them.  But there’s often some good potential in offensive linemen in the 4th round, but anyone you take is a project.  Looking for a great motor and someone very raw, in the 4th round, if you’re looking to improve your roster in the short term.  Otherwise the pick is simply for depth.

NFL Draft Day Is Here!

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Posted on 22nd April 2010 by Ben Krasner in Sports Commentary

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Rejoice!  And follow the NFL Draft on ESPN.com and NFL.com… that is, if you’re not watching it on ESPN or the NFL Network.

Buy Your Apple Stock Yet?

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Posted on 20th April 2010 by Ben Krasner in Stocks & Investing

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Apple announced 1st quarter earnings, today, and took Wall Street’s earnings estimates and stomped all over them. With stronger than expected iPhone sales as well as continued strength throughout its product lineup, Apple announced a staggering 90 percent growth in net revenue and much higher than expected earnings per share figures that sent the stock soaring in initial after-market trading. If you needed any more proof that Apple is the king of corporations, right now, this had to do it for you. I’m sure glad I have the shares that I own – I only wish I had more and had purchased them a long time ago. Have you bought yours yet?

With the overwhelmingly successful launch of yet another product – the iPad – the sky only seems to grow brighter and higher for Apple. They truly have a halo position in the global marketplace and it seems they can do no wrong. Their products are not for everyone and I would argue that their consistently pricing themselves out of certain mainstream marketing, but they are profitable and are not having to compete in a price-competitive arena because their products are so differentiated from the rest of the mix. So while I will never likely own a MacBook or an iMac, I am thrilled with my iPhone and am, in fact, typing this blog post on it right now. Their lineup makes me wonder if they might be able to get at least one product into the homes/hands of many – and what might that number be?

I currently have about 10% of my fledgling IRA invested in Apple stock and I’m pretty content in that number even though I may wish I had a few more shares. At about $240/$250 a share, Apple shares add up quickly. Is this stock right for you? And where could the value of Apple reach?

I think any company that shows the kind of success that Apple has belongs in your portfolio. This is a company that clearly has its finger on the pulse of mobile tech. I also think any stock that has a price tag this high needs you to be monitoring it very closely. These days, investors are much quicker to trade out of a stock if speed bumps are felt or even just perceived to be felt. There’s also more trading in the investor mix and traders will take profits or reposition themselves at a moments notice. And Apple could just as easily be reaching it’s maximum just when we think they are reaching their best distance stride. Google is a prime example of a high-end stock that’s hit a few cracks in their road to world domination and investors and traders have made them pay with quick adjustments during the unoredictable economic times – especially for their failure in China.

With more than half a million iPads sold already – all within the US and before the international release – combined with this quarter’s steller reports, I see no end in sight for the Apple halo. I’m looking for a ride up to near $330 a share, maybe sometime after the holiday season, and continued solid mobile products to be churned out – with the next in line being the new iPhone.