Harry “The Weasel” Reid is shocked, shocked!, to learn of Gov’t Surveillance

Gosh-a-mighty: Harry The Weasel is suddenly all miffed about the Federal Government’s penchant for snooping.

Huh; I wonder why?

(via ABC News) – “…In letters to the heads of the CIA and Justice Department, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the CIA’s decision to search the Senate intelligence committee’s network and computers without approval was “absolutely indefensible” and carried serious implications for the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches.

Democrat Senator Feinstein on Gov’t Surveillance: Rules for Me, but Not for Thee

It must be wonderful to live in a world where the rules don’t apply to you, …because you make all the rules.

And it must come as quite a shock when suddenly your rights are being usurped, right along with those of the hoi polloi:

(via Washington Post) – “…Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein (D, Calif.) made waves Tuesday when she publicly accused the Central Intelligence Agency of spying on Senate computers in an alleged attempt to thwart her committee’s investigation into Bush era interrogation and detention practices. The senator even suggested that the agency had violated the Constitution and federal law.

But while Feinstein is up in arms about the intelligence agency’s search of her staff’s computer system and network, she has been an avid defender of National Security Agency surveillance programs. “It’s called protecting America,” she said shortly after the news broke that the NSA was collecting domestic phone records in bulk...”

#NSA spying: New Efforts and New Effects

A couple NSA-related news articles from the last few days which, for whatever reason, haven’t generated nearly enough buzz:

NSA surveillance hurting tech firms’ business

(via USA Today) – The National Security Agency, and revelations about its extensive surveillance operations — sometimes with the cooperation of tech firms — have undermined the ability of many U.S. companies to sell products in key foreign countries, creating a fissure with the U.S. government and prompting some to scramble to create “NSA-resistant” products. The fallout could cost the tech industry billions of dollars in potential contracts, which has executives seething at the White House.

Obama “didn’t know” about #Spying? Or Healthcare.gov? Yeah. Sure. Whatever…

The #1 rule I learned in my early management days was about the critical nature of Trust. Being liked is overrated: you can be hated and still be wildly effective. But no matter how brilliant, or charismatic, or well-meaning you are, the day that your employees/co-workers/clients no longer trust you is the day your leadership is effectively over.

We have come, finally, to that day in the Obama Administration.

Back in May and on the heels of his proclaimed ignorance of the IRS targeting of Conservative groups, I asked whether the president was a congenital liar, totally incompetent, or both (“The Many, Many, Many things the Obama Administration “…just didn’t know…” “). 

And today, we have our answer: it doesn’t matter. Because one explanation is as thoroughly debilitating to his now-shattered trust as the other: