Here’s the question I would like to ask former CIA director David H. Petraeus: Was the affair worth it?
As you probably know, Petraeus handed in his resignation after it was revealed that he had an extramarital affair with Paula Broadwell, a married, military reservist and author of his biography, “All In: The Education of General David Petraeus.”
The whole affair (pun intended) makes me wonder why people risk so much, including, in many cases, their livelihood?
“Power and success give people a sense of invulnerability,” Mira Kirshenbaum, clinical director of the Chestnut Hill Institute in Boston said in a USA Today story. “A lot of guys like Petraeus have worked awfully hard, and yes, they have a lot to show for it, but day-to-day mostly what they face is more hard work. Where’s the big reward? An affair can seem like a long-deserved perk.”
The Petraeus scandal could also engulf the career of Gen. John R. Allen, who is faced with questions about his e-mail exchanges with a Florida woman whose complaint sparked the FBI probe that led to Petraeus’s resignation, Bloomberg News reports. (The woman, Jill Kelley, complained to a FBI friend that she was getting harassing e-mails telling her to stay away from Petraeus, a friend of the family. The FBI traced those e-mails to Broadwell, exposing the affair.) The Pentagon’s inspector general is reviewing thousands of pages of documents from the Allen-Kelly exchanges turned over to the FBI.
Earlier this week, Gen. William “Kip” Ward, former head of U.S. Africa Command, was demoted after he was accused of spending thousands of dollars on lavish travel and other unauthorized expenses, the Pentagon said Tuesday, reported the Associated Press.
Retiring as a three-star general will cost Ward about $30,000 a year in retirement pay, giving him close to $208,802 a year rather than the $236,650 he would receive as a four-star general, according to the Associated Press.
The AP says a report detailed lengthy stays at swank hotels for Ward, his wife and his staff members. Ward also has been ordered to repay the government $82,000.
But not in the headlines are regular folks who behave badly on their jobs and end up getting fired. They text while driving a bus or train. They steal from their company. They inflate their expense accounts.
Do these people ever stop and think how much their actions will cost them in the long run?
Never mind.
Of course they don’t.
Black Thursday
Black Thursday is now the new Black Friday.
Major retailers, arguing that they are bowing to the wishes of their customers, are continuing a trend that largely began last year by opening their stores on Thanksgiving Day.
“There’s a segment of the population who wants to drop their drumstick and immediately pick up a door-buster,” Brian Hanover, a spokesman for Sears told The Washington Post’s Abha Bhattarai.
“Our customers kept telling us they wanted more flexible Black Friday shopping hours.”
A recent survey by CouponCabin.com found that nearly a third of U.S. adults think Black Friday starts too early now, compared with past years.
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